Positron emission tomography scans serve as the foundation for the research career of Nora Volkow, a psychiatrist whose work shifted the clinical understanding of addiction. By visualizing brain activity in chronic users, she identified structural abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex that challenge the perception of substance abuse as a mere character flaw or individual moral violation.
Background and Academic Formation
Born in 1956 in Mexico City, Nora Volkow grew up in the Coyoacán residence once occupied by her great-grandfather, Leon Trotsky. Her early education took place at the Modern American School. She earned her medical degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico before relocating to the United States for postdoctoral residency training at New York University. During this period, she collaborated with psychiatrist Jonathan Brodie to apply imaging technology to psychiatric research.
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Volkow joined the faculty at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston before moving to the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1987. She spent much of her career in Upton, New York, eventually serving as Director of Nuclear Medicine and Associate Director for Life Sciences. During these years, she utilized imaging to compare the brains of individuals with cocaine addiction against control groups, establishing that long-term use correlates with reduced blood flow in the prefrontal cortex.
Leadership at the National Institute on Drug Abuse
In 2003, Volkow assumed the role of director for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. Her tenure focuses on addressing systemic factors such as criminalization, health disparities, and socioeconomic status. Beyond her policy work, she serves as an advocate for the medical model of addiction, including her 2015 TEDMED talk on the parallels between morbid obesity and drug-related brain reward system alterations.
Fast facts
- Born: 1956, Mexico City
- Current Role: Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Education: National Autonomous University of Mexico; New York University
- Professional Field: Psychiatry and substance abuse
- Key Technology: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning
- Prix International de l’INSERM Recipient: 2009
- Honorary Doctorate, CEU Cardenal Herrera University: 2007
Questions readers ask
How did Volkow's research influence the view of addiction?
Her imaging studies provided evidence that addiction causes pathological changes in brain structure, shifting public and clinical perspectives away from addiction as a character flaw toward a disease model.
What is the primary focus of her work at NIDA?
She focuses on the intersection of substance use disorders with criminalization, social stigma, and socioeconomic disparities.
Achievements
- Held posts at Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Fields: psychiatry, substance abuse and endocannabinoids
