Jennifer Blackford, PhD
Hattie B. Munroe Professor
Associate Dean and Director, Research, MMI
Professor, UNMC Dept of Neurological Sciences and Pediatrics
Professor, UNO Dept of Psychology
Jennifer Blackford, PhD, obtained her doctorate in developmental psychology, with minors in quantitative psychology and developmental disabilities, from Vanderbilt University, followed by post-doctoral training in neuroimaging and genetics supported by a National Institute of Mental Health Mentored Career Development Award.
Blackford's research program aims to identify and characterize the neurobiological basis of anxiety across the lifespan, and the role of anxiety neurocircuitry in psychiatric disorders including alcohol use disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and schizophrenia. This research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Blackford made significant contributions to understanding how individual differences in temperament contribute to anxiety risk. Her work showed that inhibited temperament involves a failure of the amygdala and hippocampus to habituate, rather than simple amygdala hyperactivity as previously thought, and that prefrontal cortex activity during anticipation of threat is underactive in inhibited children but overactive in inhibited adults, suggesting this risk-related brain response shifts across development.
Blackford's most significant contribution to science has been her studies of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in humans — a tiny brain region implicated in anxiety and addiction in rodent models. Blackford and her lab were the first to develop a method for identifying the structural boundaries of the BNST in humans and mapped the BNST’s structural and functional connectivity. This seminal work has been widely replicated and has driven significant growth in the field. Blackford continues this work, currently studying BNST function in pediatric anxiety, alcohol use disorders, PTSD, and schizophrenia.
- PhD: Vanderbilt University, 1998.
- MS: Vanderbilt University, 1994.
- BS: Florida State University, 1990.
Emotional Neuroscience Research Laboratory at the UNMC Munroe- Meyer Institute.
- Feola B, Melancon SNT, Clauss JA, Noall MP, Mgboh A, Flook EA, Benningfield MM, Blackford JU. (2021) Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala responses to unpredictable threat in children. Developmental Psychobiology, 63(8): e22206.
- Flook, E. A., Feola, B., Benningfield, M. M., Silveri, M. M., Winder, D. G., & Blackford, J. U. (2023). Alterations in BNST intrinsic functional connectivity in early abstinence from alcohol use disorder. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 58(3), 298-307.
- Feola, B, Flook, EA, Gardner, H, Phan, KL, Gwirtsman, H, Olatunji, B., Blackford, JU. (2023). Altered bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala responses to threat in combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 36(2), 359-372.
- Zabik NL, Flook EA, Feola B, Benningfield MM, Silveri MM, Winder DG, Blackford JU. (2024) Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis network responses to unpredictable threat in early alcohol abstinence. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 48(9),1716-1727.
- Golpadas, M, Flook, EA, Hayes, N, Benningfield, MM, Blackford, JU (2025). Subgroups of anxiety and depression trajectories during early abstinence in alcohol use disorder. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 49(5): 1086-1096.
- Annual lectures on fear and anxiety neurocircuitry, stress biology, anxiety disorders, child development, temperament/personality, neuroanatomy and statistics.
- Master science teacher, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 2015-2018.
- Co-course director, brain, behavior and movement course, foundations in medical knowledge, first-year medical students, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 2014-2017.
- Course director, biomedical curriculum didactics, psychiatry residency, Vanderbilt University 2013-2015.
- Course director, case based learning, psychiatry residency, Vanderbilt University 2013-2015.
- Course director, statistics and methodology series, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, 2005-2008.
- Neurobiology of childhood anxiety.
- Neurobiological mechanisms underlying inhibited temperament.
- Role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and amygdala in post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis circuit in early abstinence from alcohol.
- Anxiety neurocircuitry in schizophrenia.
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Distinguished Scientist Award, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 2023.
- American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Fellow, 2023.
- American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Member, 2019.
- Academy for Excellence in Education, elected member, Vanderbilt University, 2015.
- Clinical Teacher Award, Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, 2014.
- Innovation Award, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, 2001.
- Julius Seeman Award, presented by the faculty to the student who best exemplifies the ideals of scholastic, personal, and professional achievement.. Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, 1994, 1996.
- Phi Beta Kappa, 1990.
- American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
- Research Society on Alcohol.
- Society of Biological Psychiatry.
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Munroe-Meyer Institute
985450 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5450
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