Samantha Abram

Samantha Abram is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, specializing in schizophrenia research with a focus on reward processing, memory dysfunction, and neuroimaging techniques like EEG and fMRI. She completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis (2018), followed by a VA Advanced Fellowship in Mental Illness Research (2021) and an internship at the University of Minnesota (2018).

• Education:
  • BA in Psychology, University of Minnesota (2009)
  • PhD in Clinical Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis (2018)
  • Internship, Clinical Psychology, University of Minnesota (2018)
  • VA Advanced Fellowship, Mental Illness Research, UCSF (2021)

Her research investigates schizophrenia through projects such as the EEG study of reward processing and memory dysfunction (VA CSR&D CX002355, 2022-2027) and a NIH-funded human foraging model of decision-making (F31DA040335, 2015-2017). Her recent publications highlight connections between pons-cerebellum hypoconnectivity, sensory prediction errors, and hallucinations, as well as brain age gaps linked to negative symptoms and psychosis conversion.

Her work spans neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychopharmacology, with an emphasis on translational models and neural circuitry. She has published 15+ peer-reviewed articles in journals like Neuropsychopharmacology, Biological Psychiatry, and Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Scientific Awards include the

• 2024 Western Psychological Association Early Research Career Award
• 2023 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Travel Award
• UCSF Grunfeld Scholars (2021)
• UCSF Psychiatry Trainee Research Award (2020)