Research Topics
Training Areas
Education
M.A., University of Southern California
PsychologyPh.D., University of Southern California
PsychologyB.A., University of California, Los Angeles
Psychology
Biography
Dr. Hazlett is a Professor (Research Track) in the Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory. She is also a member of the Department of Neuroscience Training Faculty. Dr. Hazlett is Principal Investigator on grants from the NIMH, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Defense. She has received Young Investigator and Independent Investigator Awards from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (formerly NARSAD). Her work has been featured on the cover of three international journals (Biological Psychiatry, The American Journal of Psychiatry, and Brain Research). Professor Hazlett is a member of the Association for Psychological Research, Society for Psychophysiological Research, and the Society for Research in Psychopathology.
Research
Dr. Hazlett’s multidisciplinary research utilizes neuroimaging and other psychophysiological measures to study normal and disordered cognition and emotion. Her laboratory’s multi-measure approach employs functional brain imaging (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) together with more basic psychophysiological measures (e.g., skin conductance responsivity and modulation of the startle eyeblink response) to investigate and characterize attentional and affective information-processing deficits in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder). Functional brain imaging allows a window onto the brain’s activity while the more basic psychophysiological measures allow superior temporal resolution (in milliseconds) to examine the magnitude and time course of the cognitive- and emotion-processing deficits observed in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum illnesses.
Dr. Hazlett is particularly interested in individual differences in attentional and emotional information processing that might predict treatment response. Dr. Hazlett and her team are currently working on two federally-funded studies in this area: (1) a 4-year study funded by a VA Merit Award that uses a fMRI measure of the function of the caudate nucleus (a brain region rich in dopamine) and a psychophysiological measure of sensorimotor gating (startle eyeblink modulation) as potential predictors of risperidone treatment response in schizophrenia patients; (2) a 3-year study funded by the Department of Defense that employs a psychophysiological measure (affective modulation of the startle response) to examine emotion dysregulation in Veterans at high and low risk for suicide.
Dr. Hazlett’s other research interests involve the use of fMRI and affective startle eyeblink responses to examine emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder. Finally, Dr. Hazlett has a long-standing interest in the clinical symptom and cognitive correlates of structural MRI abnormalities in the schizophrenia spectrum.
*denotes a peer-reviewed publication with a graduate student in Dr. Hazlett's Lab as the first author.
Publications
Hazlett EA, Goldstein KE, Kolaitis JC. A review of structural MRI and diffusion tensor imaging in schizotypal personality disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports 2012; 14: 70-78.
Hazlett EA, Goldstein KE, Tajima-Pozo K, Speidel ER, Zelmanova Y, Entis JJ, Silverman JM, New AS, Koenigsberg HW, Haznedar MM, Byne W, Siever LJ. Cingulate and temporal lobe fractional anisotropy in schizotypal personality disorder. NeuroImage 2011; 55: 900-908.
*Goldstein KE, Hazlett EA, Savage KR, Berlin HA, Hamilton HK, Zelmanova Y, Look AE, Koenigsberg HW, Mitsis EM, Tang CY, McNamara M, Siever LJ, Cohen BH, New AS, *doctoral graduate student . Dorso- and ventro-lateral prefrontal volume and spatial working memory in schizotypal personality disorder. Behavioural Brain Research 2011; 218: 335-340.
*Schneiderman JS, Hazlett EA, Chu KW, Zhang J, Goodman CR, Newmark RE, Torosjan Y, Canfield EL, Entis J, Mitropoulou V, Tang CY, Friedman J, Buchsbaum MS, *doctoral graduate student . Brodmann area analysis of white matter anisotropy and age in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research 2011; 130: 57-67.
Hazlett EA, Zhang J, New AS, Zelmanova Y, Goldstein KE, Haznedar MM, Meyerson D, Goodman M, Siever LJ, Chu KW. Potentiated Amygdala Response to Repeated Emotional Pictures in Borderline Personality Disorder. Biological Psychiatry; 2012;: in press.
Industry Relationships
Physicians and scientists on the faculty of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai often interact with pharmaceutical, device and biotechnology companies to improve patient care, develop new therapies and achieve scientific breakthroughs. In order to promote an ethical and transparent environment for conducting research, providing clinical care and teaching, Mount Sinai requires that salaried faculty inform the School of their relationships with such companies.
Dr. Hazlett did not report having any of the following types of financial relationships with industry during 2012 and/or 2013: consulting, scientific advisory board, industry-sponsored lectures, service on Board of Directors, participation on industry-sponsored committees, equity ownership valued at greater than 5% of a publicly traded company or any value in a privately held company. Please note that this information may differ from information posted on corporate sites due to timing or classification differences.
Mount Sinai's faculty policies relating to faculty collaboration with industry are posted on our website at http://icahn.mssm.edu/about-us/services-and-resources/faculty-resources/handbooks-and-policies/faculty-handbook. Patients may wish to ask their physician about the activities they perform for companies.
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