Kathryn Cullen, MD
Head of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Division, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Head of the Child & Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Division, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Center for Neurobehavioral Development
Faculty, Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Preceptor, Medical Scientist Training Program (Combined MD/PhD Training Program)
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Medical School, University of Minnesota Medical School
Residency, University of Minnesota (Psychiatry)
Fellowship, University of Minnesota (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
University of Chicago, Bachelor of Arts, 1993
Summary
Dr. Cullen is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division at the University of Minnesota. She completed all of her medical and research training at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Cullen leads an NIH-funded research team examining the neurodevelopmental underpinnings of depression, self-injury and suicide risk in adolescents and young adults, and investigating interventions aimed at promoting healthy trajectories in these youth.
Expertise
- Depression and non-suicidal self-injury
- Bipolar disorder
- Borderline personality disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive disorder
Awards & Recognition
Professional Associations
Local National International
Research
Research Summary/Interests
Dr. Cullen's research primarily focuses on depression and self-injury in adolescents. Her research approaches include the use of brain imaging to examine the biology of depression and self-harm, elucidate the mechanisms of existing treatments, and develop novel treatments.
Research Funding Grants
NIMH R01MH107394 "A Longitudinal Study Examining Three RDoC Constructs in Adolescents with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury" NCCIH R61AT009995 "Identifying Biological Signatures of N-acetylcysteine for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents" Clinical Translational Research Services (CTRS) "Mindful Breathing and Neuromodulation for Depression in Young People" University of Minnesota Office of Academic Affairs "Tackling the Wicked Problem of Adolescent Mental Illness Through Art"
Publications
Original Refereed Research Papers
- Scola G, McNamara RK, Croarkin PE, Leffler JM, Cullen KR, Geske JR, Biernacka JM, Frye MA, DelBello MP, Andreazza AC.Lipid peroxidation biomarkers in adolescents with or at high-risk for bipolar disorder.J Affect Disord. 2016 Mar 1;192:176-83.
- Sommerfeldt SL, Cullen KR, Han G, Fryza BJ, Houri AK, Klimes-Dougan B. Executive Attention Impairment in Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2015 Nov 13:1-15. [Epub ahead of print]
- Bernstein, G.A., Mueller, B.A., Westlund, M.K., Campbell, S.M., Regan, E.K., Nelson, P.M., Houri, A.K. Lee, S.S., Zagoloff, A.D., Lim, K.O., Yacoub, E.S. & Cullen, K.R.Abnormal striatal resting-state functional connectivity in adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.Psychiatry Research:Neuroimaging. 2016 Jan 30;247:49-56
- Musgrove, D., Eberly, L.E., Klimes-Dougan, B., Basgoze, Z., Mueller, B.A., Lim, K.O., & Cullen, K.R. Impaired Bottom-Up Effective Connectivity Between Amygdala and Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Unmedicated Adolescents with Major Depression: Results from a Dynamic Causal Modeling Analysis Revision.Brain Connectivity.2015 Dec;5(10):608-192015 Dec;5(10):608-19
- Cullen, K.R., LaRiviere, L., Vizueta,N., Hunt, R., Miller, M.J., Lim, K.O., & Schulz, S.C.Brain Activation in Response to Overt and Covert Fear and Happy Faces in Women with Borderline Personality Disorder.Brain Imaging and Behavior.2015; May 26 [epub ahead of print].
- Donoghue, A., Roback, M.,Cullen, K.R.Remission from Behavioral Dysregulation in a Child with PTSD After Receiving Procedural Ketamine.Pediatrics.2015 Sep;136(3):e694-6
- Kennedy, K., Cullen, K.R., DeYoung, C., & Klimes-Dougan, B.The Genetics of Early-Onset Bipolar Disorder: A Systematic Review.Journal of Affective Disorders. 2015 Sep 15;184:1-12.
- Klimes-Dougan, B., Eberly, L.E., Westlund, M.K., Kurkiewicz, P., Houri, A., Schlesinger, A., Thomas, K.M., Mueller, B.A., Lim,K.O., & Cullen, K.R.Multilevel assessment of the neurobiological threat system in depressed adolescents: Interplay between the limbic system and HPA axis. Development and Psychopathology.2014; 26(4 Pt 2):1321-35
- Cullen, K.R., Westlund, M., Klimes-Dougan, B., Mueller, B.A., Houri, A., Eberly, & L.E., Lim, K.O. Abnormal Amygdala Resting -State Functional Connectivity in Adolescent Depression. JAMA Psychiatry 2014; 71(10)1138-47
- Hall, L.M., Klimes-Dougan, B., Hunt, R.H., Thomas, K.M., Houri, A, Noack, E, Mueller, B.A., Lim, K.O., & Cullen, K.R.An fMRI study of emotional face processing in adolescent major depression. J Affect Disord. 2014; 168:44-50
- Hulvershorn, LA., Cullen, K.R., Francis, M., & Westlund, M. Developmental Resting State Functional Connectivity for Clinicians. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Rep. 2014; 1(3):161-169
- Cullen, K.R., Eberly, L.E., Heller, M.D., Schlesinger, A., Gold, P.W., Martinez, P.E., & Klimes-Dougan, B.Personality Disorders in offspring of mothers with mood disorders: Results from a longitudinal family study. Psychiatry Research. 2014; 218(3)303-10
- Epstein K.A., Cullen K.R., Mueller B.A., Robinson P., Lee S., & Kumra S. White matter abnormalities and cognitive impairment in early-onset schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2014; 53(3):362-372
- Schulz, S. Charles, Camchong, J., Romine, A., Schlesinger, A., Kuskowski, M., Pardo, J.V., Cullen, K.R., & Lim, K.O. An exploratory study of the relationship of symptom domains and diagnostic severity to PET scan imaging in borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry Res. 2013; 214(2):161-168. PMID: 24011393
- Klimes-Dougan, B., Desjardins, C.D., James, M.G., Narajan, A.J., Long, J.D., Cullen, K.R., Gold, P.W., & Martinez, P.E. The development of thought problems: A longitudinal family risk study of offspring of bipolar parents.Developmental Psychopathology. 2013;25:1079-1091. PMID: 24229550.
- Gunlicks-Stoessel, M., Mufson, L., Cullen, K.R., & Klimes-Dougan, B.A pilot study of depressed adolescents' cortisol patterns during parent-adolescent conflict and response to interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-A).Journal of Affective Disorders. 2013; 150(3):1125-1128.
- Walczak, N., Fasching, J., Toczysk,i W., Sivalingam, R., Bir,d N., Cullen, K., Morellas, V., Murphy, B., Sapiro, G., & Papanikolopoulos, N.A nonintrusive system for behavioral analysis of children using multiple RGB+depth sensors.Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision.2012;pp.217-222
- Sivalingam, R., Cherian, A., Fasching, J., Walczak, N., Bird, N., Morellas, V., Murphy, B., Cullen, K., Lim, K., Sapiro, G., & Papanikolopoulos, N. A multi-sensor visual tracking system for behavior monitoring of at-risk children.Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.2012; pp.1345-1350.
- Cullen, K.R., Wallace, S., Magnotta, V.A., Bockholt, J., Erlich, S., Gollub, R.L., Manoach, D., Ho, B.C., Clark, V., Lauriello, J., Bustillo, J.R.,Schulz, S.C., Andreasen, N.A., Calhoun, V.D.,Lim, K.O., & White, T.J.Cigarette Smoking and White Matter Microstructure in Schizophrenia.Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 2012;201(2):152-158
- Han, G., Klimes-Dougan, B., Ballard, K., Jepson, S., Nelson, M., Houri, A. Kumra, S., & Cullen, K.Selective Neurocognitive impairments in adolescents with major depressive disorder.Journal of Adolescence. 2012; 35(1):11-20
- Fasching, J., Walczak, N., Sivalingam, R., Cullen, K., Murphy, B., Sapiro, G., Morellas, V. & Papanikolopoulos, N. Detecting risk-markers in children in a preschool classroom.Proceedings of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems 01/2012 978-1-4673-1737-5
- Cullen, K.R., Vizueta, N.V., Thomas, K.M., Han, G., Lim, K.O., Camchong, J., Mueller, B.A., Heller, M., Bell, C.H., & Schulz, S.C.Amygdala Functional Connectivity in Young Women with Borderline Personality Disorder.Brain Connectivity.2012; 1(1):61-71
- Cullen, K.R., Anjum, A., Guimaraes, A., Wozniak J., Schulz, S.C., & White, T.J.Differential Trajectories of the Schizophrenia Prodrome:Social Withdrawal and Cognitive Decline. Clinical Schizophrenia and Related Psychoses.2012; 4(4):229-238
- Cullen, K.R., Klimes-Dougan B.,Muetzel, R., Mueller, B.A., Camchong, J., Houri, A., Kumra S., C., & Lim, K.O.Altered White Matter Microstructure in Adolescents with Major Depression:A Preliminary Study.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.2010; 49(2):173-183
- Cullen, K.R., Gee, D., Klimes-Dougan, B., Kumra, S., Hulvershorn, L., Mueller, B., Camchong, J., Bell, C., Lim, K.O., Castellanos, F.X., & Milham, M.A Preliminary Study of Functional Connectivity in Comorbid Adolescent Depression. Neuroscience Letters.2009; 460(3):227-231
- Kumra, S., Kranzler, H., Gerbino-Rosen, G.,Kester, H., DeThomas, C., Cullen, K.R., Regan, J.T., & Kane, J.Clozapine vs. “High-Dose” Olanzapine in Refractory Early-Onset Schizophrenia: An Open-Label Extension Study.Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.2008; 18(4):307-16
Refereed Review Papers
- Westlund Schreiner M, Klimes-Dougan B, Begnel ED, Cullen KR. Conceptualizing the neurobiology of non-suicidal self-injury from the perspective of the Research Domain Criteria Project. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2015 Oct;57:381-91.
- Cullen, K.R., Westlund, M.K., LaRiviere, L.L., & Klimes-Dougan, B.An Adolescent With Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: A Case and Discussion of Neurobiological Research on Emotion Regulation. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2013; 170(8):828-831
- Narayan, A., Allen, T., Cullen, K.R., & Klimes-Dougan, B. Disturbances in reality testing as markers of risk in offspring of bipolar parents: a systematic review from a developmental psychopathology perspective.Bipolar Disorders.2013; 15(7):723-740
- Hulvershorn, L.A., Cullen, K.R., & Anand, A. Toward Dysfunctional connectivity: a review of neuroimaging findings in pediatric major depressive disorder.Brain Imaging and Behavior. 2011; 5(4):11-20.
- Cullen, K.R., Klimes-Dougan, B., Kumra, S., & Scultz, S.C.Pediatric Major Depressive Disorder:Neurobiology and Implications for Early Intervention.Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 2009; 3:178-188.
- White, T.J., Cullen, K.R., Rohrer, L.M., Karatekin, C., Luciana, M., Schmidt, M., Hongwanishkul, D., Kumra, S., Scultz, S.C., & Lim K.O.Limbic Structures and Networks in Children and Adolescents with Schizophrenia.Schizophrenia Bulletin. 2008;34 (1):18-29
Invited Editorials or Commentaries
- Cullen, K.R., & Lim, K.O.Toward Understanding the Functional Relevance of White Matter Deficits in Bipolar Disorder.JAMA Psychiatry. 2014; 71(4):362-364
- Cullen, K.R.Imaging adolescent depression treatment.Am J Psychiatry. 2012; 169(4):348-350
Clinical
Board Certifications
- Psychiatry
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Clinical Experience Statement
Hospital Privileges
University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital; University of Minnesota Medical Center
Media
In The News
- UMN Medical School, 12/20/2021
Minnesota Futures Award Supports ‘Creative Camp’ Research for Adolescent Mental Health
- UMN Medical School, 07/13/2021
The shadow orphan crisis of Covid-19
- Vox, 04/20/2021
New Study Underway to Research Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Young Girls
- UMN Medical School, 04/15/2020