Kathryn Cullen, MD

Kathryn R. Cullen, M.D., is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, and she is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Division at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Cullen completed her medical training at the University of Minnesota including medical school, psychiatry residency and child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship. She also completed a T32 research fellowship through the Center of Neurobehavioral Development. She currently co-directs the Early Stage Mood Disorders (child and adolescent arm) clinic with Dr. David Bond, and co-directs the Research on Adolescent Depression laboratory (RAD Lab) with Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, Ph.D. (Psychology). Dr. Cullen is an active member of the Center for Neurobehavioral Development and the Institute of Engineering in Medicine, and is has an adjunct appointment in the Graduate Program for Neuroscience.

• CTSI Mentor of the Year, 2018

Dr. Cullen's research primarily focuses on depression and related problems in adolescents. Her research approaches include the use of brain imaging to examine the biology underlying these problems in teenagers, and to elucidate the mechanisms of existing treatments for depression. Dr. Cullen is currently leading two research projects that are testing novel treatments for severe depression in teenagers whose depression has not improved despite treatment with antidepressant medications. Additional topics of interest in her research in adolescents include non-suicidal self-injury, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and (in collaboration with Dr. Gail Bernstein) obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Dr. Cullen's research
Dr. Bernstein's research

Original Refereed Research Papers

1. 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.
2. 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]
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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].
6. 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
7. 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.
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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
18. 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.
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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

1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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

1. 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
2. Cullen, K.R.Imaging adolescent depression treatment.Am J Psychiatry. 2012; 169(4):348-350