Erin A Hazlett, PhD

Dr. Hazlett’s multidisciplinary and translational 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 information-processing deficits in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, schizotypal personality disorder) and affective processing deficits in personality disorders (e.g., borderline personality disorder) and major depression characterized by emotion dysregulation. 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 various types of psychiatric illness. Dr. Hazlett is particularly interested in individual differences in attentional and emotional information processing that might predict treatment response. Finally, Dr. Hazlett has a long-standing interest in the clinical symptom and cognitive correlates of structural MRI abnormalities in the schizophrenia spectrum. She and her team are currently working on a new 5-year longitudinal study at Mount Sinai funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health that uses fMRI and neurocognitive assessments across the schizophrenia spectrum. We are recruiting healthy individuals, individuals with schizotypal personality disorder, and recent-onset schizophrenia. At the James J. Peters VA Medical Center (a Mount Sinai affiliate), Dr. Hazlett is currently working on several VA Merit grants examining the neurobiology of suicidal behavior in Veterans. If you are interested in participating in our research, please call a member of our team at: the Mood and Personality Research Program at Mount Sinai: (212) 241-0442, or the James J. Peters VA Medical Center: (718) 584-9000 x3635. For more information on Dr. Hazlett's Cognitive Psychophysiology Lab, visit http://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/hazlett-lab. Currently-Funded Federal Grants: 1. 4/1/20-3/31/25 Principal Investigator: R01 MH121411-01A1; MPI: Phil Szeszko, Ph.D. “Longitudinal neuroimaging and neurocognitive assessment of risk and protective factors across the schizophrenia spectrum” This project employs a longitudinal multimodal MR imaging and neurocognitive approach across schizophrenia-spectrum disorders to identify aberrant neural circuitry along a continuum from healthy controls to schizotypal personality disorder to recent-onset schizophrenia. 2. 4/1/20-3/31/24 Principal Investigator: Collaborative VA Merit I01 CX002093-01A1; MPI: Marianne Goodman, M.D. “CTBI: Traumatic brain injury-induced inflammation effects on cognitive evaluations and response inhibition: Mechanisms of increased risk for suicidality” This highly-collaborative research involves four VA sites. Our site at the JJPVA investigates brain activity with fMRI during cognitive and motor impulsivity tasks in Veterans with and without a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and suicide attempt history. Other sites expand the sample size in Veterans or examine an animal model of mild traumatic brain injury. 3. 4/1/18-3/31/23 Principal Investigator: 1 IK6 CX001738-01 “CSR&D Research Career Scientist Award” This award provides full-time VA salary support for the PI and enhances opportunities for (a) conducting collaborative neuroimaging and psychophysiological research, and (b) research mentoring at the JJPVAMC. 4. 4/1/17-3/31/21 Principal Investigator: VA Merit Award I01 CX001451 “Neurobiology of affective instability in Veterans at low and high risk for suicide” This study examines affective startle modulation as a psychophysiological measure of emotion regulation and frontal-amygdala circuitry with MRI as biomarkers of high-risk suicidal behavior in Veterans. 5. 4/1/20-3/31/25 Training Faculty: T32 “Postdoctoral Training in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders” Dr. Hazlett serves as a research mentor on this newly-funded T32 grant awarded to Drs. Rene Kahn and Dolores Malaspina in the Department of Psychiatry at ISMMS. If you are interested in a post-doctoral fellowship, please contact Dr. Hazlett directly. 6. 4/1/20-3/31/24 Co-Investigator: VA CSR&D Merit Award I01 CX002039-01 “Predicting suicidal behavior in Veterans with bipolar disorder using behavioral and neuroimaging based impulsivity phenotypes” PI: Phil Szeszko, Ph.D. (clinician-scientist at JJPVAMC). This project will examine both trait and state measures of impulsivity in Veterans with bipolar disorder using self-report measures and fMRI to predict the occurrence of suicidal behavior longitudinally over one year. 7. 1/1/20-12/31/24 Co-Investigator: VA CSR&D Merit Award I01 CX001980-01 “Reward processing and depressive subtypes: Identifying neural biotypes related to suicide risk, resilience, and treatment response” PI: Susanna Fryer, Ph.D. (VAMCSF and UCSF; Early career investigator). This project aims to evaluate neurobehavioral mechanisms involved in reward processing that contribute to reward and related deficits (anhedonia and amotivation) in depression using a multimodal approach (EEG, behavioral assessments, fMRI). The study will investigate the heterogeneity of depression—specifically in terms of reward-related brain functions and their clinical correlates. 8. 1/1/20-12/31/22 Co-Investigator: R21 MH119530-01A1 “Mapping treatment components to targets in Dialectical Behavior Therapy” PI: Kathryn Dixon-Gordon, Ph.D. (UMass Amherst; Early career investigator). This project uses behavior tasks and psychophysiology to probe treatment targets in patients with borderline personality disorder receiving DBT. 9. 10/1/18-9/30/23 Co-Investigator: VA CSR&D Merit Award I01 CX001705 “Group (“Project Life Force”) vs. individual suicide safety planning RCT” PI: Marianne Goodman, M.D. This project evaluates the effectiveness of a 10-session suicide safety planning group-based intervention for suicidal Veterans incorporating emotion regulation skills vs. safety planning without group involvement. 10. 10/1/16-9/30/20 Co-Investigator: VA CSR&D Merit Award I01 CX001395 “DNA methylation and inflammatory signatures associated with suicide risk and treatment in US Veterans” PI: Fatimeh Haghighi, Ph.D. This project examines DNA methylation patterns and inflammatory markers in Veterans with suicidal behavior, depression, and healthy comparison subjects, followed longitudinally and examines changes with treatment.