Posts by Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD
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Restrictive Eating Disorders May Disrupt White Matter Development
In the first study of its kind, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers found that high levels of ghrelin, ordinarily a neuroprotective hormone, are associated with decreased white matter in late- and post-pubertal females who have anorexia nervosa or atypical anorexia nervosa.
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Single Oxytocin Dose Weakens Neural Connections That Drive the Desire for Food
Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD, Liya Kerem, MD, MSc, pediatric endocrinology fellow, Franziska Plessow, PhD, experimental psychologist in the Neuroendocrine Unit, and colleagues have become the first to show that oxytocin attenuates the functional connectivity between the VTA and other food motivation brain regions.
Biography
Elizabeth A. Lawson, MD, MMSc is a clinician in the Neuroendocrine Clinical Center and a faculty member in the Neuroendocrine Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a clinical researcher and Director of the Interdisciplinary Oxytocin Research Program. In addition research on oxytocin, Dr. Lawson studies endocrine abnormalities in anorexia nervosa. Awards in recognition of her work have included the MGH Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award and Endocrine Society's Early Investigators Award. She is author of more than 35 peer-reviewed publications.
Digestive Healthcare at Mass General
The Massachusetts General Hospital Digestive Healthcare Center is a collaborative practice of gastroenterologists, endoscopists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, hepatologists, oncologists and radiation oncologists dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of digestive diseases.