Dana Mathews, M.D., Ph.D.

Dana Mathews, Ph.D., M.D., is a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Radiology Research Division. Her clinical interests include positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) imaging.

Dr. Mathews holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. She earned a master’s degree in psychology and a doctoral degree in clinical science at Emory University in Atlanta. After earning her medical degree at UT Southwestern, she received advanced training through fellowship programs in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at State University of New York in Stony Brook, and at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. She later returned to UT Southwestern to perform residencies in neurology and nuclear medicine. 

Dr. Mathews joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 1993 as a member of its Nuclear Medicine Division. She retired as a full professor in 2018, but returned as a part-time faculty member in the Radiology Research Division. Prior to joining the faculty at UT Southwestern, Dr. Mathews served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington.

At UT Southwestern, she has dedicated her time to developing nuclear imaging programs on campus, forming the first nuclear medicine service at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, and overseeing the purchase and installation of the university's first PET scanner in 2001.

Dr. Mathews focuses her research on evaluating cerebral blood flow and metabolism. She has worked alongside campus neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neuroradiologists to measure cerebral blood flow in cerebrovascular disease. More recently, she has investigated glucose metabolism and amyloid deposition in dementia and head trauma. She has co-authored nearly 50 peer-reviewed publications with the results of her studies, and has frequently been invited to present her findings at professional conferences throughout the country and around the world. 

Dr. Mathews is a member of the Radiology Residency Review Committee, the Nuclear Medicine Residency Curriculum Committee, and the Nuclear Medicine Program Evaluation Committee. Her commitment to translating radiology research into clinical practice is evidenced by her participation on the Radioactive Drug Research Committee, as well as the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's Brain Imaging Council, for which she serves as vice president.

Undergraduate

Wittenberg University (1973), Psychology

Graduate School

Emory University (1975), Psychology

Graduate School

Emory University (1976), Clinical Sciences

Medical School

Univ of Tx Southwestern Med Ct (1987), Medicine

• Evaluation and measurements of cerebral blood flow and metabolism; general nuclear medicine.

Featured Publications

Diagnostic applications of simultaneously acquired dual isotope SPECT scans

Mathews D, Walker BS, Allen BC, Batjer H, and Purdy PD American Journal of Neuroradiology 1994 15 63-71

Brain blood flow SPECT in temporary balloon occlusion of carotid and intracerebral arteries

Mathews D, Walker BS, Purdy PD, Batjer H, Allen BC, Eckard DA, Devous MD, and Bonte FJ Journal of Nuclear Medicine 1993 34 1239-1243

Infra-manubrial parathyroid glands in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism: Alternatives to sternotomy

Nwariaku FE, Burkey SH, Mathews D, Watumull LM, and Snyder WH. FE, Burkey SH, Mathews D, Watumull LM, and Snyder WH. World Journal of Surgery 2005 29 491-494.

. Infra-manubrial parathyroid glands in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism: Alternatives to sternotomy

NwariakuNwariaku FE, Burkey SH, Mathews D, Watumull LM, and Snyder WH. FE, Burkey SH, Mathews D, Watumull LM, and Snyder WH. World Journal of Surgery 2005 29 491-494.

Changes in regional cerebral blood flow distribution during postexercise hypotension in humans

Williamson JW, McColl R, and Mathews D. Journal of Applied Physiology 2004 96 719-724

Directed parathyroidectomy: Feasibility and performance in 100 consecutive patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Burkey SH, Snyder WH, Nwariaku F, Watumull L, Mathews D Archives of Surgery 2003 138 604-609

Evidence for central command activation of the human insular cortex during exercise

Williamson JW, McColl R, Mathews D Journal of Applied Physiology 2003 94 1726-1734

Positron emission tomography in prostate and renal cell carcinoma

Mathews D and Oz OK Current Opinions in Urology 2002 12 381-385

• Trustee, Southwest Chapter of Nuclear Medicine
  (2002)

• Society of Nuclear Medicine
• Southwest Chapter of Society of Nuclear Medicine