Journal of Depression and Anxiety Disorders

Dr. Kathy Sanders-Phillips is a Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the "Research Program in the Epidemiology and Prevention of Drug Abuse and AIDS in Communities of Color (PEPDAA)," College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, at Howard University's College of Medicine and an adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at George Washington University/ Children's Hospital, USA. Dr. Kathy is trained as a developmental psychologist and completed an internship in pediatric psychology with a focus on the interface between psychological and biological functioning in children and youth. She received her Ph.D. in from the Johns Hopkins University and completed her internship at the University of Maryland Hospital. Dr. Kathy's areas of research include etiology and developmental impact of trauma, depression, and anxiety particularly in youth and young adults of color and those in secondary social groups. Relationships between the trauma of discrimination, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and risk behaviors such as drug use, antisocial peer relationships, and violence and aggression in youth. Trauma and PTSD related to violence exposure and violence perpetration in women and girls.

Dr. Kabirullah Lutfy obtained his B.Pharm degree from the College of Pharmacy, Kabul University (Kabul, Afghanistan). He was then appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacodynamics, College of Pharmacy, Kabul University. In 1987, he came to the USA as an immigrant and attended school at St' John's University and obtained his MS degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1990. Dr. Lutfy then moved to California in late 1991 and joined UCI as a Ph.D. student in early 1992. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacology & Toxicology in 1996, and then joined UCLA as a post-doctoral fellow later that year. He was promoted to an Assistant Pharmacologist in 1999, after receiving a K01 and a Young Investigator award respectively from the NIH and NARSAD. In 2003, he joined the Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy, and he has been there since. He is a full professor and teaching Pharmacology for the PharmD and MS students. Dr. Lutfy's research interest is to determine the role of neuropeptides in the rewarding and addictive actions of addictive drugs as well as natural reinforcers and characterize the role of these peptides in the negative mental health consequences, such as anxiety and depression, following exposure to palatable foods, stress and addictive drugs.

Dr. David Arnold Baron is the current chair of the Section on Medicine Psychiatry and Primary Care for WPA. His early scholarly contributions were focused on global psychiatric education and the role of psychiatry in primary care. Dr. David has extensive administrative experience, having served as the Deputy Clinical Director of NIMH and Chair of the Dept. of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine and Keck SOM of USC. His experience in Depression assessment includes developing and copyrighting the most widely used depression screener for athletes (BDSA), and over 30 year experience in teaching depression assessment and treatment to medical students, residents, primary care providers, psychiatrists, and the general public in the US and globally. Dr. David was the coordinating psychiatrist for Philadelphia in initial assessment and triage of patients airlifted from New Orleans. Dr. David's interests are in concussion, ADHD, global mental health literacy, sports psychiatry, and integrated primary care and mental health. His recent work has focused on Sport Psychiatry, Specifically Doping in Sports and Concussion.

Dr. Zuoxin Wang is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology & Program in Neuroscience at Florida State University, USA. Dr. Wang received his B.S. in Biology from Beijing Normal University in China, Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and postdoctoral training in Behavioral Neuroendocrinology at UMass and from the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Wang's research is devoted to the understanding of the neuronal and hormonal mechanisms of social behaviors. Research from his lab has shown that the neurotransmitters dopamine, vasopressin, and oxytocin in particular brain circuits play important roles in the regulation of pair bonding behavior in a monogamous rodent species, the prairie vole, Microtus ochrogaster. Recently, his lab has also shown that central dopamine regulates pair bonding behavior in prairie voles in a way similar to dopamine regulation of drugs of addiction in other rodent species. Dr. Wang's current research is focused on investigating the receptor-specific dopamine regulation of pair bonding and on developing the prairie vole model for the study of neural mechanisms underlying social and drug reward interactions. In addition, Dr. Wang is also interested in examining endogenous and environmental factors regulating adult neurogenesis and revealing the functional significance of new neurons in adult brains.

Dr. Matthew J Will is an Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences University of Missouri, Columbia and Director of Cognition and Neuroscience Graduate Training Area. He received his B.A., Psychology from Saint John's University; both M.A. and Ph.D., in Psychology from University of Colorado, USA. Dr. Will has an extensive background in various methods of behavioral neuroscience, with specific training in using animal models of behavior to examine neural circuitry underlying behaviors. Over the past 20 years, he has been examining different rewarding events, beginning with drugs of abuse, then palatable food, and lastly physical activity. His research over this time has focused on examining neural networks mediating the appetitive and consummatory nature of these events, whether it be drugs of abuse or natural rewards (food, exercise, social interaction). Dr. Will's overall research approach has always employed a combination of detailed behavioral analysis and molecular/histological techniques to also examine the underlying neurobiology mediating the behaviors.

Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani is an Associate Professor of Community Health Education at Ball State University. He is the recipient of 2012 Indiana Governor's Service Learning Award. His research expertise is in the areas of violence prevention, childhood maltreatment, global health, and clinical epidemiology. Dr. Khubchandani's research has been published in very prestigious scientific journals. He has published more than 60 articles in 27 different journals in the past 5 years. More recently, his research has also been highlighted by popular media outlets like Fox News, US News and World Report, CNBC, Yahoo News, Reuters Health, and the Chicago Tribune. Dr. Khubchandani's research interests include Global health, social and clinical epidemiology, mental health.