Nora Volkow

Dr. Nora Volkow is the Director of the prestigious National Institute of Drug Abuse in Washington and a pioneer in the use of brain imaging in the pursuit of understanding drug addiction. Her landmark studies helped determine that drug addiction is not a character flaw or a sign of moral corruption but a chronic disease that physically changes the brain. Her research has also contributed to the understanding of obesity, ADHD and the behavioural changes related to aging. Dr. Volkow was born in Mexico City and lived in the house where her great-grandfather, the Russian revolutionary leader, Leon Trotsky was assassinated under orders from Josef Stalin.
Dr. Volkow earned a medical degree from the National University of Mexico and completed her psychiatric residency at New York University. Much of her research was done at the Brookhaven National Laboratory where she served as Director of Nuclear Medicine and Chair of the Medical Department before she was appointed the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2003.
Ken Rockburn spoke to Dr. Nora Volkow in Bethesda, Maryland.