Skip to Main Content
Carol Tamminga, M.D.

Carol Tamminga, M.D.

Professor

Endowed Title
Lydia Bryant Test Distinguished University Chair in Psychiatric Research
School
Medical School
Department
Psychiatry
Graduate Programs
Clinical Psychology, Neuroscience

You have reached the Academic Profile.

For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile.

  • Biography

    Download Curriculum Vitae

    Dr. Tamminga is the Chief, Translational Research in Psychosis at UT Southwestern. She received her M.D. degree from Vanderbilt University and completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of Chicago. She served on the University of Chicago faculty from 1975 to 1979 and moved to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) for training in Neurology in 1978. After joining the faculty at the University of Maryland Medical School in 1979, she practiced research, clinical care, and teaching there until joining the faculty at UT Southwestern Medical School in 2003.

    Dr. Tamminga has been active in governing boards in the United States. She has been a member of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Advisory Board and served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the NIMH and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, as Council Member and President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, as a Member and Chair of the Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as Consultant for the Orphan Products Development Review Group, FDA. She is a member of the Advisory Board of the Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation (NARSAD) and a member on several of their committees. She has been a Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry and on the editorial board of several other journals in the field. Dr. Tamminga was elected to the National Academies of Medicine, then the Institute of Medicine (IOM), in 1998 and has served on several IOM committees in that capacity.

    The goal of Dr. Tamminga’s research is to examine and understand the mechanisms underlying schizophrenia, especially its most prominent symptoms, psychosis and memory dysfunction, in order to build rational treatments for the illness. She evaluates the function of the living human brain in individuals with and without schizophrenia, using brain imaging techniques. Then, building on this knowledge, she uses human postmortem brain tissue to translate the functional alterations from the living human patient into molecular observations of the illness. Her ultimate goal is to base novel pharmacologies for psychosis and memory dysfunction on these observations and to use the altered in vivo imaging and postmortem molecular changes as biomarkers and targets for identifying animal models of disease and novel active pharmaceuticals.

  • Education
    Medical School
    Vanderbilt University Hospital (1971)
    Internship
    Blodgett Memorial Medical Center (1972), Internal Medicine
    Residency
    University of Chicago Hospitals (1975), Psychiatry
  • Research Interest
    • Human Brain Imaging
    • Human Translational Neuroscience
    • Postmortem Brain Research
    • Schizophrenia Research
  • Publications

    Star Featured Publications

    Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured Featured
  • Honors & Awards
    • Flynn Award
      Yale University Department of Psychiatry (2011)
    • Kempf Award, American Psychiatric Society
      This award recognizes a senior researcher who has made a significant contribution to research on the causes and treatment of schizophrenia as both a researcher and a mentor. (2011)
    • Leiber Award for Schizophrenia Research
      The Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research is given in recognition of a research scientist who has made distinguished contributions to the understanding of schizophrenia. (2011)
    • Arvid Carlsson Medal Award
      (2008)
    • Research Lecturer of the Year
      University of Maryland, School of Medicine (2001)
  • Professional Associations/Affiliations
    • Co-Founder and Organizer, International Congress on Schizophrenia Research
    • Deputy Editor, American Journal of Psychiatry
    • Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
    • NARSAD Scientific Council Member, currently Executive Committee
    • Stanley Foundation Advisory Board