Nora D. Volkow, M.D., became Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in May, 2003. Dr. Volkow came to NIDA from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), where she held concurrent positions including associate director for life sciences, director of nuclear medicine, and director of the NIDA/Department of Energy Regional Neuroimaging Center. In addition, Dr. Volkow was a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean of the medical school at the State University of New York-Stony Brook.
At Brookhaven, Dr. Volkow was the first to use imaging to investigate neurochemical changes that occur during drug addiction. Her primary focus was on mechanisms underlying the reinforcing, addictive, and toxic properties of drugs of abuse in the human brain.
Dr. Volkow received her B.A. from Modern American School, Mexico City, Mexico, her M.D. from the National University of Mexico, Mexico City, and her postdoctoral training in psychiatry at New York University. In addition to BNL and SUNY-Stony Brook, Dr. Volkow has worked at the University of Texas Medical School and Sainte Anne Psychiatric Hospital in Paris, France.
