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Dr. Keedy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She is currently
pursuing research to evaluate brain abnormalities underlying psychotic illness and
the effects of antipsychotic medication on functional brain systems, primarily through
the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging during sensorimotor and cognitive task performance. These investigations are aimed at expanding the current knowledge
of the effects of antipsychotic medication, which is currently more limited to effects
on neurotransmitter systems in the brain and to date has been shown to achieve only
partial symptom reduction. Far less is known about the effects of antipsychotic
medication on the brain’s actual function during observable behavior. This work
is beginning to fill that gap and will lead to increased understanding of current
treatments and can guide development of new ones. Other research interests:
• Development of methods for integrating brain measures. For example, EEG has temporal
resolution at the millisecond level and high-field fMRI has spatial resolution at
the millimeter level. Development of techniques for combining these types of datasets
will combine their strengths to create a powerful means for characterizing brain
function and detecting abnormalities.
• In collaboration with the Center for Health
Statistics, development of methods for the analysis of event-related
fMRI study designs. The work is aimed at being able to demonstrate not only locations
of brain activation, but also to characterize the time-course of activation across
different brain regions, and to compare these measures in healthy and patient populations.
Dr. Keedy’s obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rosalind Franklin University
of Medicine and Science’s neuropsychology track and completed her internship at
the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. Her postdoctoral fellowship was completed at
the University of Illinois at Chicago, combining clinical neuropsychology training
under the supervision of Neil Pliskin, director of the Neurobehavior Program, and
clinical research training under the supervision of John Sweeney, director of the
Center for Cognitive Medicine. Dr. Keedy’s background includes experience with neurocognitive
testing in both clinical and research settings, as well as numerous neurophysiological
techniques, including animal and human evoked potentials, volumetric brain imaging
analysis, and functional MRI.
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