Roger Pitman, MD

CIMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS:

3.15.10:
Mark Pollack, MD, named Traumatic Stress Disorders Program Leader

2.15.10:
Roger Pitman, MD, recognized by CIMIT community for his vision and leadership in founding the CIMIT PTSD Program

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DR. PITMAN'S BACKGROUND

Dr. Pitman’s research into the psychobiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) spans more than 25 years.  Over this time, he has studied combat veterans, nurses who served in the combat arena, women sexually abused as children, breast cancer patients, firefighters, police, and accident victims.  Specific research topics have included peripheral autonomic and electromyographic responses during script-driven imagery and audio-visual presentations of traumatic events;  autonomic and electromyographic components of the startle response; brain electrophysiologic responses to trauma-related and -unrelated stimuli;  neurologic and neuropsychologic abnormalities in PTSD; pre-combat risk factors for PTSD; structural neuroimaging of neuroanatomic correlates of PTSD and the effects of psychologic trauma upon the human brain; and functional neuroimaging of brain changes in response to trauma-related and -unrelated stimuli.  For the past 12 years, he has conducted a large-scale, psychobiologic investigation of a national sample of monozygotic twins discordant for combat exposure in Vietnam.  His current major research interest is whether medications administered immediately following traumatic memory reactivation can weaken traumatic memories through reconsolidation blockade, which represents a potential novel treatment for PTSD.