Francesca Filbey

Dr. Francesca Filbey is the Bert Moore Chair in BrainHealth and Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), part of the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Her research focuses on addiction mechanisms, particularly using neuroimaging to study reward system dysfunction in substance use and disordered eating. She leads the Neuroimaging of Reward Dynamics Lab (NiRD), exploring genetic, environmental, and neurobiological factors influencing addiction.

Education includes a PhD in Experimental Neuropsychology from King’s College London (2002), postdoctoral training at NIH, and prior roles at the University of New Mexico and the Mind Research Network. Her work combines fMRI, genetics, and behavioral studies to address how early life stress, age of substance use onset, and genetic variants like CNR1/FAAH influence reward pathways and addiction vulnerability.

Key research areas include cannabis/marijuana neurobiology, tobacco cue reactivity, obesity as a behavioral addiction, and translational neuroscience linking genetics to brain phenotypes. Over 150 peer-reviewed publications and grants totaling millions (e.g., NIH R01s) support her work. Awards include NIDA Travel Awards, RSNA Junior Investigator honors, and international fellowships.

• Grants: NIH R01s on cannabis genetics, obesity-addiction overlap, and neurodevelopmental impacts of adolescent marijuana use.
• Lab: NiRD Lab investigates addiction’s neural underpinnings via multimodal brain imaging and behavioral assessments.
• Professional Roles: American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society for Neuroscience, and other leadership positions.