Anna Zilverstand

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Credentials

PhD

Bio

I am a psychologist and neuroimaging expert, a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, and a member of the Medical Discovery Team on Addiction. I received my PhD from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, where I developed fMRI-based neurofeedback training protocols for three different clinical populations. During my postdoctoral training at Mount Sinai, New York, I focused on the potential for personalized medical treatments in human drug addiction, investigating novel approaches for individualized treatments in cocaine-addicted individuals.

My current work focuses on establishing the existence of neurobiological subtypes in different addicted human populations, with the goal of developing individualized brain-based and technology-supported treatments for human drug addiction. My research group combines the analysis of existing large-scale multimodal data sets with the acquisition of new data through a variety of techniques such as interviewing, neurocognitive testing, questionnaires, and multi-modal neuroimaging. Novel computational methods are employed for linking social, demographic, neurocognitive, personality, and clinical measures to the neuroimaging data, to explore the existence of neurobiological subtypes within the addicted population. The goal of this research is to develop a neuroscience-derived individualized treatment for individuals who are at risk for either escalation of drug use or relapse. Within the department, I am a member of the Grand Rounds Committee.

Expertise

• Large-scale multimodal data sets
• MRI
• Human drug addiction treatment

Administrative Assistant

(for academic support only)
Shelly Slominski
slomi001@umn.edu

In the Media

• 2023: Dr. Zilverstand and her research team are featured in this article titled, “NIH grant enabling U of M team to identify factors involved in alcohol use disorder relapse following treatment.”
• 2023: Quoted in this Mpls Star Tribune article titled, “As Minnesota considers legalizing marijuana, what does research say about the risks?
• 2021: Dr. Zilverstand’s work with a national study is highlighted in this KSTP story titled, “U of M team leading 'largest study of early childhood brain development”. Her testimony before the Minnesota legislature earlier this year helped make the state’s portion of the study possible.
• 2021: Helped change a law to get some important research started in this article titled, “Lobbying Efforts Lead to Research Opportunities on the Effects of Substance Use on Families”.

Research Summary

Dr. Zilverstand's current work focuses on investigating how individual differences contribute to human drug addiction. Her research group combines the analysis of existing large-scale multimodal data sets with the acquisition of new data through a variety of techniques such as interviewing, neurocognitive testing, questionnaires and multi-modal neuroimaging. Novel computational methods are employed for linking social, demographic, neurocognitive, personality and clinical measures to the neuroimaging data, to explore the existence of neurobiological subtypes within the addicted population. The goal of this research is to develop neuroscience-derived individualized treatment for individuals who are at risk for either escalation of drug use or relapse.

Teaching Summary

Dr. Zilverstand is a faculty member of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience and provides training and supervision for neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry students, residents, and fellows in the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Clinical Summary

Dr. Zilverstand's clinical interests include addiction and other Impulse Control Disorders.