Nora Volkow

Early life and education

Volkow earned her bachelor's degree from the Modern American School, then earned a medical degree from National University of Mexico before going to New York University for psychiatric residency. She chose a career in brain research after reading an article on the use of positron emission tomography in studying brain function. She did research at Brookhaven National Laboratory before becoming director of NIDA in 2003.

Research career

Volkow's imaging studies of the brains of people addicted to drugs have helped to clarify the mechanisms of drug addiction. At Brookhaven, positron emission tomography (PET) scanning was being used to study the brain in people with schizophrenia. When Volkow moved to the University of Texas, studying patients with schizophrenia was not an option, but studying patients with cocaine addiction was possible. Volkow and colleagues studied the distribution of blood flow in the brain of chronic cocaine users and control patients who did use cocaine. They found decreased blood flow to the prefrontal cortex of cocaine users, that continued after 10 days of withdrawal from cocaine use.

This research has played a part in changing the public's view of drug addiction, from that of a moral violation or character flaw to an understanding that pathological changes to brain structure make it very difficult for addicts to give up their addictions. Volkow concludes that abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex create a feeling of need or craving that people with addictions find difficult to prevent. She argues that this makes it difficult to override compulsions by exercising cognitive control. The main areas affected are the orbitofrontal cortex, which maintains attention to goals, and the anterior cingulate cortex, that mediates the capacity to monitor and select action plans. Both areas receive stimulation from dopamine neurons that originate in the ventral tegmental area. A steady influx of dopamine makes it difficult to shift attention away from the goal of attaining drugs. It also fastens attention to the motivational value of drugs, not pleasure. Volkow suggests that people with addictions are caught in a vicious circle of physical brain changes and the psychological consequences of those changes, leading to further changes.

Dr. Volkow spent most of her professional career at the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, where she held several leadership positions including Director of Nuclear Medicine, Chairman of the Medical Department, and Associate Director for Life Sciences. Dr. Volkow was also a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Associate Dean of the Medical School at the Stony Brook University.

Awards and recognition

Volkow has been recognized for her scientific contributions, both before and during her time at NIDA. The following are among the most significant:

Personal life

Dr. Volkow is the great-granddaughter of Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky. Her father Esteban Volkov is the son of Leon Trotsky’s eldest daughter Zinaida Volkova. Born in Mexico City, Volkow and her three sisters grew up in Coyoacán in the house where Trotsky was killed (now the Leon Trotsky House Museum). In 2014, Volkow participated in The Moth at the World Science Festival, where scientists, writers and artists tell stories of their personal relationships with science. During this time, Volkow discussed her family history, and how it furthered her ambition to pursue science in order to positively influence others.

Volkow is married to Dr. Stephen Adler, a physicist with the National Cancer Institute.