After finishing psychiatry residency, she joined the faculty at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, working on PET scan research projects in addition to clinical duties. She conducted research work with Professor Alan Swann, now at Baylor, leaving to the
Department of Energy’s
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York in 1987. Volkow spent most of her professional career at Brookhaven, where she held several leadership positions. She was first a researcher, and then Director of Nuclear Medicine, Director of the NIDA-DOE Regional Neuroimaging Center at BNL, and finally Associate Director for Life Sciences at BNL. She was also appointed as a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at
Stony Brook University and as Associate Dean for its Medical School. When Volkow moved to the
University of Texas, studying patients with schizophrenia was not an option, but studying patients with cocaine addiction was possible. 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.
National Institute on Drug Abuse In 2003 Volkow became director of NIDA. Volkow is the first person from the NIH to visit the
Dalai Lama at his residence in
Dharamshala,
Himachal Pradesh,
India. During this 2013 visit, Volkow took part in a dialogue with the Dalai Lama about addiction science, as part of a five-day conference sponsored by the
Mind and Life Institute.
Science communication and public advocacy In 2014, Volkow participated in an event organized by
The Moth at a
World Science Festival, where scientists, writers and artists told stories of their personal relationships with science. During this time, she discussed her family history and how it furthered her ambition to pursue science in order to positively influence others. In her 2015
TEDMED talk titled "Why do our brains get addicted?", Volkow explored how people with morbid obesity experience alterations to the dopamine reward system resulting in compulsive behavior similar to the mechanisms of addiction. She addressed how stigma around both conditions stems from their perception as personal moral failings, rather than medical disorders. == Awards and recognition ==