Anna Zilverstand, PhD

I am a psychologist and neuroimaging expert, faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science and 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 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.

• 2018 Trainee Professional Development Award at the Society for Neuroscience
• 2016 Friedman Brain Institute Research Scholar Award as Co-Investigator
• 2015 Young Investigator Travel Award at Real-time Functional Imaging Conference
• 2015 Postdoctoral Rubicon Fellowship by Netherlands Ministry of Education
• 2009 PHD Training Award by SmartMix Program Netherlands Ministry of Education

• 2018 – present Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP)
• 2012 – present Society for Neuroscience (SFN)
• 2010 – present Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM)

• Dutch
• English
• French
• German
• Spanish

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.

Zilverstand A., Goldstein R.Z. (2019). Dual models of drug addiction: the impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution (iRISA) model. In Verdejo-Garcia, A. (Ed.). Cognition and addiction: A Researcher’s Guide From Mechanisms Towards Interventions. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.

Song, S., Zilverstand, A., Gui, W., Li, H., Zhou, X. (online Dec 27th 2018). Effects of single-session versus multi-session non-invasive brain stimulation on craving and consumption in individuals with substance dependence or eating disorders: A meta-analysis. Brain Stimulation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30612944

Gan G., Zilverstand, A., Parvaz M.A., Preston-Campbell R.N., d’Oleire Uquillas F., Moeller S.J., Tomasi D., Maloney T., Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein N. (online Oct 23rd 2018). Habenula functional connectivity in human reactive aggression. Neuropsychopharmacology.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30366001

Konova, A.B., Parvaz, M.A., Bernstein, V., Zilverstand, A., Moeller, S.J., Delgado, M., Alia-Klein, N., Goldstein, R.Z. (2019). Neural mechanisms of extinguishing drug and pleasant cue associations in human addiction: role of the VMPFC. Addiction Biology, 24(1), 88-99. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28872745

Zilverstand, A., Huang, A., Goldstein, R. (2018). Neuroimaging Impaired Response Inhibition and Salience Attribution in Human Drug Addiction. Neuron, 98 (5), 886-903.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29879391

Zilverstand, A., O’Halloran, R., Goldstein, R. (2018). Resting-state and structural brain connectivity in individuals with stimulant addiction. In Pickard, H., Ahmed, S. (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy and Science of Addiction. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Moeller, S.J., Zilverstand, A., Konova, A.B., Kundu, P., Parvaz, M.A., Preston-Campbell, R., Bachi, K., Alia-Klein, N., and Goldstein, R.Z. (2018). Neural correlates of drug-biased choice in currently-using and abstinent individuals with cocaine use disorder. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3(5):485-494. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29735157

Bachi, K., Parvaz, M.A., Moeller, S.J., Gan, G., Zilverstand A., Goldstein R.Z., Alia-Klein, N. (2018). Reduced orbitofrontal gray matter concentration as a marker of premorbid childhood trauma in cocaine use disorder. Frontiers of Human Neuroscience, 12: 51.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29497369

Alia-Klein, N., Preston-Campbell, R.N., Moeller, S.J., Parvaz, M.A., Bachi, K., Gan, G., Zilverstand, A., Konova, A.B., Goldstein, R.Z. (2018). Trait anger modulates neural activity underlying emotional arousal. PLoS ONE 13(4): e019444. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29672547

Zilverstand, A., Sorger, B., Kaemingk, A., & Goebel, R. (2017). Quantitative Representations of an Exaggerated Anxiety Response in the Brain of Female Spider Phobics – A Parametric fMRI Study. Human Brain Mapping, 38(6), 3025-3038. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28321945

Zilverstand, A., Sorger, B., Slaats-Willemse, D., Kan, C.C., Goebel, R., & Buitelaar, J.K. (2017). fMRI Neurofeedback Training for Increasing Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activation in Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. An exploratory randomized, single-blinded study. PLoS ONE, 12(1), e0170795. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28125735

Zilverstand, A., Parvaz, M.A., Goldstein, R.Z. (2017). Neuroimaging cognitive reappraisal in clinical populations to define neural targets for enhancing emotion regulation. A systematic review. NeuroImage, 151, 105-116. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27288319

Song, S., Zilverstand, A., Song, H., d’Oleire Uquillas, F., Wang, Y., Xie C., Cheng, L., Zou, Z. (2017). The influence of emotional interference on cognitive control: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies using the emotional Stroop task. Scientific Reports, 7:2088. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28522823

Zilverstand, A., Parvaz, M.A., Moeller S.J., Goldstein, R.Z. (2016). Cognitive interventions for addiction medicine: Understanding the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Progress in Brain Research: Neuroscience for Addiction Medicine: From Prevention to Rehabilitation, 224, 285-304. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26822363

Moeller, S.J., Fleming, S.M., Gan, G., Zilverstand, A., Malaker, P., d'Oleire Uquillas, F., Schneider, K.E., Preston-Campbell, R., Parvaz, M.A., Maloney, T., Alia-Klein, N., and Goldstein, R.Z. (2016). Metacognitive accuracy impairments in drug addiction associated with individual differences in brain structure. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 26(4), 653-662. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26948669

Zilverstand, A., Sorger, B., Sarkheil, P., & Goebel, R. (2015). fMRI neurofeedback facilitates anxiety regulation in females with spider phobia. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience,9:148.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28125735

Sarkheil, P., Zilverstand, A., Schneider, F. Goebel, R. Mathiak, K.(2015). fMRI neurofeedback enhances emotion regulation as evidenced by a reduced amygdala response. Behavioural Brain Research, 281, 326-332. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25461265

Song, H., Zou, Z., Kou, J., Liu, Y. Yang, L., Zilverstand, A., d’Oleire Uquillas, F., Zhang, X. (2015). Love-related changes in the brain: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience; 9:71. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25762915

Zilverstand, A., Sorger, B., Zimmermann, J., Kaas, A., & Goebel, R. (2014). Windowed Correlation: A Suitable Tool for Providing Dynamic fMRI-Based Functional Connectivity Neurofeedback on Task Difficulty. PLoS ONE, 9(1), e85929. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24465794

Goebel, R., Zilverstand, A., & Sorger, B. (2010). Real-time fMRI-based brain-computer interfacing for neurofeedback therapy and compensation of lost motor functions. Imaging in Medicine, 2(4), 407-415.

Bolte, J., Jansma, B. M., Zilverstand, A., & Zwitserlood, P. (2009). Derivational morphology approached with event-related potentials. The Mental Lexicon, 4(3), 336-353.