Gwenn Smith, PhD

Professional Titles

• Director, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry
• Co-Director, Center for Translational Molecular Imaging, Johns Hopkins Bayview

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Centers and Institutes

Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Contact for Research Inquiries

Department of Psychiatry
5300 Alpha Commons Drive
Baltimore, MD 21224

Phone: (410) 550-8696
Fax: (410) 614-8042
gsmith95@jhmi.edu

Research Summary

For over two decades, my research has focused on the development and application of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging methods to understand functional neuroanatomic and monoaminergic mechanisms associated with vulnerability to cognitive decline in late life, as well as to understand the mechanisms underlying the mood and cognitive responses to medication and brain stimulation treatment. In addition to the role of neuroimaging as a bridge between basic and clinical neuroscience, I appreciated early in my career that neuroimaging represents an unique opportunity to understand the earliest neurobiological changes that occur in cognitive and mood disorders in late life and to inform the development of more effective treatments. While the majority of this work has focused on late-life depression, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's disease, the methods developed have been applied to other neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia and traumatic brain injury.

Google Scholar

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uiBa6ngAAAAJ&hl=en

Selected Publications

• Smith GS, Barrett FS, Joo JH, Nassery N, Savonenko A, Sodums DJ, Marano CM, Munro CA, Brandt J, Kraut MA, Zhou Y, Wong DF, Workman CI. (2017) Molecular imaging of serotonin degeneration in mild cognitive impairment. Neurobiology of Disease. 105:33-41

• Smith GS, Workman CI, Protas H, Su Y, Savonenko A, Kuwabara H, Gould NF, Kraut M, Joo JH, Nandi A, Avramopoulos D, Reiman EM, Chen K. (2021) Positron emission tomography imaging of serotonin degeneration and beta-amyloid deposition in late-life depression evaluated with multi-modal partial least squares. Translational Psychiatry. 10.1038/s41398-021-01539-9

• Smith, GS., Mills, KA., Pontone, GM, Anderson, WS, Brasic, J., Zhou, Y., Brandt, J., Butson, CR, Wong, DF, Mari, Z. (2019) Effect of STN DBS on Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 and Glucose Metabolism. Parkinson's Disease, Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 64:235-241

• Lozano, AM, Fosdick, L, Chakravarty, MM, Leoutsakos, JM, Munro, C, Oh, E, Drake, K, Lyman, C, Rosenberg, P, Anderson, WS, Tang-Wai, D, Pendergrass, JC, Salloway, S, Asaad, W, Ponce, F, Burke, A, Sabbagh, M, Wolk, DA, Baltuch, G, Okun, M, Foote, K, McAndrews, MP, Giacobbe, P, Targum, S, Lyketsos, CG, Smith, GS. (2016) A Phase II Study of Fornix Deep Brain Stimulation in Mild Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 54(2):777-87

• Stevens, D., Workman, CI, Kuwabara, H., Butters,MA., Savonenko, A., Nassery, N., Gould, N., Kraut, M., Joo, JH, , Kilgore,J., Kamath, V., Holt., Hall., A., Dannals, RF, Nandi, A., Onyike , CU, Smith, GS.(2022) Regional amyloid correlates of cognitive performance in aging and mild cognitive impairment Brain Communications, 7;4(1):fcac016