Lisa T. Eyler, Ph.D.
Asst. Adj. Professor
Mail Code 151B
3500 La Jolla Village Drive
San Diego, CA 92161
Phone #: 858-552-8585, Ext. 7666
Fax: 858-642-1458
Email: lteyler@ucsd.edu

MIRECC Postgraduate Research Fellowship (MD or PhD)

Biography:
Dr. Eyler received her undergraduate degree from Duke University in 1991 and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. She then completed a clinical psychology internship at UCSD and the San Diego VA, with a focus on neuropsychological assessment and adult outpatient psychotherapy. From 1997-1999, she was a post-doctoral fellow in Geriatric Psychology under the mentorship of Dilip Jeste, M.D. and Gregory Brown, Ph.D. She then joined the faculty of the Desert-Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) as a Research Health Scientist. In 2000, she was appointed an Assistant Clinical Professor in the UCSD Department of Psychiatry, and now holds an Assistant Adjunct Professor position. Dr. Eyler also is a VA-privileged Clinical Research Psychologist in the MIRECC program and directs the VA Advanced Psychology Post-Doctoral Fellowship program. In addition, she serves as a faculty member in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging. Dr. Eyler’s research program is supported by grants from the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry and NARSAD, and she consults or is a co-investigator on several federally-funded grants.


Research Focus:
Dr. Eyler’s research focuses on understanding and improving cognitive deficits among patients with schizophrenia. Her work uses functional neuroimaging to explore the brain systems that underlie neuropsychological deficits among patients, with a particular interest in learning and memory abilities. She is currently conducting a clinical trial to examine the effect of augmentation of antipsychotic treatment with a cognitive enhancer (Aricept) on cognitive function, clinical symptoms, and brain response among patients with schizophrenia. Other interests include: exploring the neurobiology of decisional capacity, use of functional magnetic resonance imaging as an outcome variable in psychosocial interventions, and investigating possible abnormalities of blood flow, blood volume, and size of the hippocampus among schizophrenia patients.

Clinical Focus:
Dr. Eyler is a licensed clinical psychologist with training in neuropsychological and diagnostic assessment and adult outpatient psychotherapy.



Selected Publications:

• Eyler Zorrilla LT, Aguirre GK, Zarahn E, Cannon TD, D'Esposito M. (1996). Activation of the prefrontal cortex during judgments of recency: a functional MRI study. Neuroreport, 7, 2803-2806.
• Eyler Zorrilla LT, Cannon TD, Kronenberg S, Mednick SA, Schulsinger F, Parnas J, Praestholm J, Vestergaard A. (1997). Structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia: A family study. Biol Psychiatry, 42, 1080-1086.
• Eyler Zorrilla LT, Heaton RK, McAdams L, Zisook S, Harris MJ, Jeste DV. (2000). Cross-sectional study of older outpatients with schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects: No differences in age-related cognitive decline. Am. J. Psychiatry, 157, 1324-1326.
• Eyler Zorrilla LT, Jeste DV, Paulus M, Brown GG. (2003). Functional abnormalities of medial temporal cortex during novel picture learning among patients with chronic schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 59, 187-198.
• Eyler LT, Olsen RK, Jeste DV, Brown GG. (2004). Abnormal brain response of chronic schizophrenia patients despite normal performance during a visual vigilance task. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 130, 245-257.