Dr Roland Zahn

Photograph of Roland Zahn

MRC Clinician Scientist Fellow, Senior Lecturer & Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist

Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit (NARU)
School of Psychological Sciences
The University of Manchester
Zochonis Building, 3rd floor
Office T7b (physical), T7a (postal)
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PL
United Kingdom

Role

Full-time temporary faculty position dedicated to research funded by a MRC Clinician Scientist award based at the Neuroscience & Aphasia Research Unit, School of Psychological Sciences (Head: Matt Lambon Ralph, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience) and the Neuroscience & Psychiatry Unit, School of Medicine (Head: Bill Deakin, Professor of Psychiatry). Further, I am an adjunct principal investigator at the Institute D'OR for Research and Education (IDOR) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Head: Dr. Jorge Moll)

Clinically, I am currently working as an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist as part of the Memory Clinic at Wythenshawe Hospital (Head: Alistair Burns, Professor of Old Age Psychiatry) and at the Specialist Clinic for Affective Disorders (Head: Ian Anderson, Professor of Psychiatry) within the Manchester Mental Health and Social Care NHS trust. I am also coordinating the research training for old age psychiatry trainees in the Northwestern Deanery together with Dr. Ira Leroi.

For more details on the aims and structure of my lab that investigates the translational cognitive neuroscience of affective disorders, please see also: http://www.translational-cognitive-neuroscience.org/start

For more information on publications see also: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Uu1Ld7MAAAAJ

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

Elected Memberships

  • The Academy of Aphasia
  • World Federation of Neurology, Research Group on Aphasia and Cognitive Disorders
  • British Neuropsychiatry Association

Grants/Awards

  • German National Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina, Leopoldina Fellowship: Jan 05 to Dec 06.
  • NIH/NINDS Supplement for Non-NIH competitive fellowships together with Jordan Grafman (Principal Investigator)
  • NIH Research Fellowship Award (NIH Public Health Service award: Visiting Program): Jan – Jul 07.
  • Stepping Stone Clinical Research Fellowship Award  by the Faculty of Medical & Human Sciences, University of Manchester, U.K: Aug 07 – Aug 11.
  • MRC Clinician Scientist Fellowship Award: May 11 - Apr 15

Research

Research Areas

  • Cognitive neuroscience of semantic memory, social knowledge (social concepts, values and attitudes), and moral (altruistic) motivations
  • Disorders of social and semantic cognition in dementia, aphasia and affective disorders

Current Research Focus

Read more here.

Summary for interested non-experts

Methodological Knowledge

  • MRI scanner operation, Image analysis of functional, structural MRI and FDG-PET
  • Lesion mapping
  • Design of neuropsychological tests and fMRI paradigms
  • Clinical neuropsychiatric, neuropsychological and neurolinguistic assessment
  • Psychopathological assessment

Teaching

I teach the module on social cognitive neuroscience on the Masters of cognitive brain imaging course and am involved in clinical teaching at the Memory Assessment Service at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Biography

  • Stepping Stones Clinical Research Fellow (8/2007 - 4/2011), The University of Manchester, School of Psychological Sciences, Manchester, UK: Principal Investigator: The neural architecture of social knowledge and moral sentiments in frontotemporal dementia and major depressive disorder. Honorary clinical fellow to Prof. Alistair Burns, Memory Assessment Service (8/2007 - 11/2010).
  • Research fellow (1/2007 - 7/2007) and Postdoctoral fellow (7/2004 – 12/2006), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS), Bethesda, USA: Lead associate investigator: Functional neuroanatomy of social concepts, values using functional MRI (Supervisor:Dr. Jordan Grafman). Neuropsychological projects (associate investigator) on social concepts and attitudes within Vietnam Veteran Head Injury Study (Naval Medical Center) and in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients (NIH/NINDS).
  • Clinical training and research in psychiatry (1/2000 to 6/2004) at the University of Freiburg (Prof. Dr. Berger). Research on semantic memory disorders in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia using multimodal neuroimaging (FDG-PET, chemical shift imaging and voxel-based morphometry).
  • Clinical training and research in cognitive neurology at the University of Aachen (Prof. Dr. Huber, 1/1998 to 12/1999). Research on recovery of semantic functions in aphasia using functional MRI. Training in neuropsychological and neurolinguistic assessment of neurological patients.
  • Doctoral research training in clinical neuropsychology (6/1994 – 9/1997) at Department of Neurology and Neuropsychology (University of Aachen, Prof. Dr. Schwarz & Prof. Dr. Willmes). Doctoral dissertation: "Neuropsychological disorders after circumscribed subcortical haemorrhages"

Qualifications

  • Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK:

 

 

             Certificate of equivalence of completion of higher specialist training in old age psychiatry

  • General Medical Council, UK:

    Specialist registration in General Adult Psychiatry in 2007

  • University of Freiburg, Germany:

    Specialist in Psychiatry & Psychotherapy (Completion of specialist training) in 2007

  • Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen (RWTH), Germany:

    Research doctorate in medicine in 1999

    Completion of medical school in 1997

Collaborators and affiliated staff

Postdoctoral lab members

Clinical postgraduate researchers

  • Dr. Ben Shaw (Specialist Trainee in Old Age Psychiatry)

Graduate Students

  • Clifford Workman (President's doctoral scholar award-funded, co-supervisor: Dr. Rebecca Elliott)

  • Helen Beaumont (PhD Student, primary supervisor: Dr. Laura Parkes, co-supervisor: Dr. Hedley Emsley)

  • Erdem Pulcu (PhD Student, primary supervisor: Dr. Rebecca Elliott): http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/students/ErdemPulcu

  • Kira Shaw (Masters Student)

Alumni:

  • Jessica Zakrzewski (MRes Student, graduated in 2008)
  • Dr. Sophie Green (MRC-funded, completed PhD in 2011)
  • Dr. Holly Robson  (completed PhD in 2011)

Main International Collaborators

  • Dr. Jorge Moll - Director of D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Center for Neuroscience, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Dr. Jordan Grafman – Chief of Cognitive Neuroscience Section, NIH/NINDS, Bethesda, USA
  • Dr. Nicolas Ruesch – Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland
  • Dr. Edward D. Huey - Columbia University, New York, USA
  • Dr. Marc Sollberger & Prof. Andreas Monsch - Memory Clinic, University of Basel, Switzerland
  • Dr. Josef Parvizi - Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University, USA
  • Laura Skipper & Dr. Ingrid Olson, Temple University, Philadelphia
  • Prof. Joao Sato, University of Sao Paulo

Main Collaborators within the University

School of Psychological Sciences (NARU):

  • Prof. Matt Lambon Ralph

School of Medicine (Division of Psychiatry):

  • Prof. Alistair Burns
  • Prof. Bill Deakin
  • Dr. Rebecca Elliott

School of Medicine (Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering):

  • Prof. Geoff Parker
  • Dr. Laura Parkes
  • Prof. Steve Williams

School of Medicine (Biomedical Statististics):

  • Prof. Graham Dunn

School of Medicine (Neurodegeneration) & Cerebral Function Unit (Neurology) at Salford Royal Hospital:

  • Dr. Alex Gerhard

Selected publications

2013

  • De Oliveira-Souza R., Zahn R., Moll J. (2013). The Neural Bases of Moral Belief Systems. In Krueger F. & Grafman J (Ed.), The Neural Basis of Human Belief Systems. (pp. 111-135). Hove & New York: Psychology Press. eScholarID:180978

2012

  • Green S., Lambon Ralph M., Moll J., Deakin J.F.W., Zahn R. (2012). Guilt-selective functional disconnection of anterior temporal and subgenual cortices in major depressive disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, eScholarID:155606

2011

  • Zahn R., De Oliveira-Souza R., Moll J. (2011). The Neuroscience of Moral Cognition and Emotion. In Decety J., Cacioppo J (Ed.), The Handbook of Social Neuroscience. New York: Oxford University Press. eScholarID:147920
  • Jorge Moll, Roland Zahn, Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, Ivanei E. Bramati, Frank Krueger, Bernardo Tura, Alyson L. Cavanagh, Jordan Grafman. (2011). Impairment of prosocial sentiments is associated with frontopolar and septal damage in frontotemporal dementia. Neuroimage, 54(2), 1735-1742. eScholarID:87540 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.026
  • Rebecca Elliott, Roland Zahn, J.F. William Deakin, Ian M. Anderson. (2011). Affective cognition and its disruption in mood disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews, eScholarID:82185 | DOI:10.1038/npp.2010.77

2010

  • Roland Zahn. (2010). The role of neuroimaging in translational cognitive neuroscience. Topics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, eScholarID:82181 | DOI:10.1097/RMR.0b013e3181e8f215
  • Sophie Green, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, Jorge Moll, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis, Jordan Grafman, Roland Zahn. (2010). Selective functional integration between anterior temporal and distinct fronto-mesolimbic regions during guilt and indignation. Neuroimage, 52(4), 1720-1726. eScholarID:82176 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.05.038

2009

  • Zahn R, Moll J, Iyengar V, Huey Edward, Tierney M, Krueger Frank, Grafman Jordan. (2009). Social conceptual impairments in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with right anterior temporal hypometabolism. Brain, 132(3), 604-616. eScholarID:1d18138 | DOI:10.1093/brain/awn343
  • Zahn R, Moll J, Paiva M. M. F, Garrido G. J, Krueger F, Huey E. D, Grafman J. (2009). The Neural Basis of Human Social Values: Evidence from Functional MRI. Cerebral Cortex, 19(2), 276-283. eScholarID:1d17141 | DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhn080
  • Zahn R, Oliveira-Souza R, Bramati I, Garrido G, Moll J. (2009). Subgenual cingulate activity reflects individual differences in empathic concern. Neuroscience Letters, 457(2), 107-110. eScholarID:1d18906 | DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2009.03.090

2008

  • Huey E, Zahn R, Krueger Frank, Moll Jorge, Kapogiannis Dimitrios, Wassermann Eric, Grafman Jordan. (2008). A psychological and neuroanatomical model of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, eScholarID:1d18056
  • Krueger F, McCabe K, Moll J, Kriegeskorte N, Zahn R, Strenziok M, Heinecke A, Grafman J. (2008). Neural correlates of trust. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, eScholarID:1d16740
  • Moll J, Oliveira-Souza R, Zahn R. (2008). The neural basis of moral cognition: sentiments, concepts and values. The Year Book of Cognitive Neuroscience / Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1124(1), 161-180. eScholarID:1d28093 | DOI:10.1196/annals.1440.005
  • Zahn R, Talazko J, Ebert D. (2008). Loss of the sense of self-ownership for perceptions of objects in a case of right inferior temporal, parieto-occipital and precentral hypometabolism. Psychopathology, 41, 397-402. eScholarID:1d16975 | DOI:10.1159/000158228

2007

  • Moll J, Oliveira-Souza R, Zahn R, Grafman J. (2007). The cognitive neuroscience of moral emotions. The Neuroscience of Morality: Emotion, Brain Disorders, and Development, ed Sinnott-Armstrong, W. ( 3, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 1-17). MIT Press<p>. eScholarID:3d901
  • Krueger F, Moll J, Zahn R, Heinecke A, Grafman J. (2007). Event frequency modulates the processing of daily life activities in human medial prefrontal cortex. Cereb Cortex, 17, 10, eScholarID:1d16741
  • Moll J, de Oliveira-Souza R, Garrido G. J, Bramati I.E, Caparelli-Daquer E. M. A, Paiva M. M. F, Zahn R, Grafman J. (2007). The self as a moral agent: linking the neural bases of social agency and moral sensitivity. Social Neuroscience, 2, 3 & 4, eScholarID:1d16742
  • Zahn R, Moll J, Krueger F, Huey E, Garrido G, Grafman J. (2007). Social concepts are represented in the superior anterior temporal cortex. PNAS of the USA, 104 (15), 6430-5. eScholarID:1d15725 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.0607061104

2006

  • Moll J, Krueger F, Zahn R, Pardini M, de Oliveira-Souza R, Grafman J. (2006). Human fronto-mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation. PNAS USA, 103 (42), 15623-8. eScholarID:1d15729 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.0604475103
  • Zahn R, Schwarz M, Huber W. (2006). Functional activation studies of word processing in the recovery from aphasia. J Physiol Paris, 99, 4-6, eScholarID:1d16749
  • Zahn, R, Garrard, P, Talazko, J, Gondan, M, Bubrowski, P, Juengling, F, Slawik, H, Dykierek, P, Koester, B, Hull, M. (2006). Patterns of regional brain hypometabolism associated with knowledge of semantic features and categories in Alzheimer's disease. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 18 (12), 2138-51. eScholarID:1d15726 | DOI:10.1162/jocn.2006.18.12.2138

2005

  • Moll J, Zahn R, de Oliveira-Souza R, Krueger F, Grafman J. (2005). Opinion: the neural basis of human moral cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci, 6 (10), 799-809. eScholarID:1d15728
  • Zahn, R, Buechert, M, Overmans, J, Talazko, J, Specht, K, Ko, C, Thiel, T, Kaufmann, R, Dykierek, P, Juengling, F, Huell, M. (2005). Mapping of temporal and parietal cortex in progressive nonfluent aphasia and Alzheimer's disease using chemical shift imaging, voxel-based morphometry and positron emission tomography. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging, 140 (2), 115-31. eScholarID:1d15727 | DOI:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2005.08.001

2004

  • Zahn R, Drews E, Specht K, Kemeny S, Reith W, Willmes K, Schwarz M, Huber W. (2004). Recovery of semantic word processing in global aphasia: a functional MRI study. Brain Res Cogn Brain Res, 8, 376-386. eScholarID:1d15730
  • Zahn R, Juengling F. D, Bubrowski P, Jost E, Dykierek P, Talazko J, Hull M. (2004). Hemispheric asymmetries of hypometabolism associated with semantic memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease: a study using positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose-F18. Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging, eScholarID:1d16748

2002

  • Zahn R, Huber W, Drews E, Specht K, Kemeny S, Reith W, Willmes K, Schwarz M. (2002). Recovery of semantic word processing in transcortical sensory aphasia: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neurocase, 8, 5, eScholarID:1d16747

2001

  • Fimm B, Zahn R, Mull M, Kemeny S, Buchwald F, Block F, Schwarz M. (2001). Asymmetries of visual attention after circumscribed subcortical vascular lesions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 71, 5, 652-657. eScholarID:1d16738

2000

  • Zahn R, Huber W, Drews E, Erberich S, Krings T, Willmes K, Schwarz M. (2000). Hemispheric lateralization at different levels of human auditory word processing: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Neurosci Lett, 287, 3, 195-198. eScholarID:1d16746

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