Taylor, Warren, Department of Psychiatry

Warren Taylor, M.D., M.S.
Department of Psychiatry
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
warren.d.taylor@vanderbilt.edu

Dr. Taylor’s research interest is to elucidate the neurobiological factors contributing to depression across the adult lifespan and how these factors may influence antidepressant treatment outcomes.

This work combines neuroimaging methodologies with clinical data, genetic assays and measures of peripheral biomarkers with the goal of identifying clinically relevant yet biologically defined groups within the broader heterogeneous diagnosis of depression.  Much of this work has focused on the interface between vascular disease and depression in older populations.  His lab has examined how cerebrovascular ischemia may damage neural circuits involved in mood regulation, how this injury may contribute to the development of depression, and what genetic factors may influence the development of this ischemia.

Specific areas of interest include: 1) neurogenetic studies, examining genetic contributions to brain structure and function that may have a particular relevance to depression; 2) research examining how vascular disease or treatment of vascular disease may influence course of depression; 3) the interface between depression and cognitive changes with aging, in particular examining how interventions targeting cognition may benefit individuals with depression.