Vishal Thakkar, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychology Graduate Faculty Member
Instructor
Department Psychiatry
Biography
Dr. Vishal Thakkar joined UTSW in 2021 before transitioning to the role of Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry in 2022. He serves a biostatistician in the Division of Translational Research in Psychosis working on various clinical trials and research projects. As well, he works in the Division of Psychology teaching Research Design and Multivariate Statistics and Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior in the clinical psychology doctoral program. He also works in the Division of Education with psychiatry residents during a research rotation (PGY-2s), on scholarly projects (PGY-4s), and with journal club-related activities (all years).
Prior to joining UTSW, Dr. Thakkar completed his undergraduate education in Neuroscience with minors in Health Care Ethics and Medical Humanities at Saint Louis University. Then, he moved to Fort Worth to complete his MS and PhD degrees in experimental psychology. Dr. Thakkar has a wide variety of interests and research experiences with cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and pedagogy, including: non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation, reading and language, psychosis, curriculum planning, and trainee education.
Education
- Graduate School
- Texas Christian University (2021), Philosophy
Research Interest
- Effects of vagus nerve stimulation on cognition
- Neuropsychological assessment
- Reading, language, dyslexia
- Teaching and learning of research methods and statistics
Publications
Featured Publications
- The effect of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation on memory recall in reading: A pilot study
- Thakkar, V. J., Richardson, Z. A., Dang, A., & Centanni, T. M. Behavioural Brain Research 2023 438 114164
- How does expecting to teach impact students' self-regulated learning?
- Tauber, S. K., Thakkar, V. J., & Pleshek, M. A. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 2022 11 1 106-119
- Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances learning of novel letter-sound relationships in adults
- Thakkar, V. J., Engelhart, A. S., Khodaparast, N., Abadzi, H., & Centanni, T. M. Brain Stimulation 2020 13 6 1813-1820
- Effects of resilience strength training on constructs associated with moral injury among veterans
- Barth, T. M., Lord, C. G., Thakkar, V. J., & Brock, R. N. Journal of Veterans Studies 2020 6 2 101-113
Professional Associations/Affiliations
- Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (2022)
- Society for the Teaching of Psychology (2021)