Hershey Named Neuroimaging Lab Chief
Tamara G. Hershey, PhD, a professor of radiology and psychiatry, has been named as lab chief of the Neuroimaging Lab (NIL). She succeeds Marcus E. Raichle, MD, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor in Medicine, who established the interdisciplinary research laboratory during the 1970s.
Hershey, who also holds joint appointments in neurology and in psychological and brain sciences, will direct the lab where her career began.
“Tamara essentially ‘grew up’ in the rich and diverse intellectual environment of the NIL,” says Richard L. Wahl, MD, director of Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology and chief of radiology at Washington University. “Her research in the fields of cognitive and clinical neuroscience has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 17 years and increasingly involves multisite and international collaborative studies.”
For the last three years, Hershey has been the NIL’s associate director. Currently the NIL has over 30 faculty members representing three departments with 100 staff, students and postdoctoral fellows.
“The NIL consists of faculty from multiple disciplines who perform collaborative and creative systems neuroscience using neuroimaging,” says Hershey. “They are creative, independent thinkers who, under Dr. Raichle’s direction and guidance, became a self-organized and cohesive community, providing a unique environment for the mentorship of students and junior faculty.”
In her new role, she plans to establish a more formal interdepartmental executive steering committee to help guide and support the NIL, and develop policies to increase transparency and equity.
Other administrative roles for Hershey have included President of the Academic Women’s Network, co-chair of the Tourette Association of American Scientific Advisory Board, and chair of the Neuroscience PhD Admissions Committee. Hershey has written over 100 peer-reviewed publications and is a member of the editorial board for the neuroscience section of Scientific Reports.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, in 1988 and her doctorate in clinical psychology (neuropsychology track) from Washington University in 1996.
