Women Taking The Lead: Nora D. Volkow, M.D.

Research psychiatrist that pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the effect of substance use on brain function

Nora D. Volkow is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) — the world’s largest funder of scientific research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction.

Her work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. For much of her career, Volkow served in various leadership roles for the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory.

She has published nearly a thousand peer-reviewed articles and written countless book contributions, manuscripts and articles. 

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