Jen Evans, Ph.D.

Dr. Jen Evans is a Staff Scientist in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch in the NIMH, NIH in Bethesda, MD., where she directs the MRI research for the lab. Her Ph.D. was in pediatric fMRI at the University of Toronto and her postdoc was in fMRI methods in the Section on Functional Imaging Methods at NIH. Her current research interests are the application of structural and functional MRI methods to clinical questions centered around the development of rapid acting antidepressants for the treatment of major depression at 3 & 7T.

Selected Publications

An exploration of actigraphy in the context of ketamine and treatment-resistant depression.  Punturieri C, Duncan WC Jr, Greenstein D, Shandler G, Zarate CA Jr, Evans JW. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2023 Sep 5:e1984. doi: 10.1002/mpr.1984. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37668277

Review: The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in clinical trials and experimental research studies for depression . Kotoula V, Evans JW, Punturieri CE, Zarate CA Jr. Front Neuroimaging. 2023 Jun 27;2:1110258. doi: 10.3389/fnimg. 2023.1110258. eCollection 2023. PMID: 37554642 Free PMC article. Review.

Functional MRI markers for treatment-resistant depression: Insights and challenges . Kotoula V, Evans JW, Punturieri C, Johnson SC, Zarate CA Jr. Prog Brain Res. 2023;278:117-148. doi: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2023.04.001. Epub 2023 Jun 5. PMID: 37414490 Free PMC article. Review.

Ketamine modulates fronto-striatal circuitry in depressed and healthy individuals . Mkrtchian A, Evans JW, Kraus C, Yuan P, Kadriu B, Nugent AC, Roiser JP, Zarate CA Jr. Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Jul;26(7):3292-3301. doi: 10.1038/s41380-020-00878-1. Epub 2020 Sep 14. PMID: 32929215 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Evaluating global brain connectivity as an imaging marker for depression: influence of preprocessing strategies and placebo-controlled ketamine treatment . Kraus C, Mkrtchian A, Kadriu B, Nugent AC, Zarate CA Jr, Evans JW. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020 May;45(6):982-989. doi: 10.1038/s41386-020-0624-0. Epub 2020 Jan 29. PMID: 31995812 Free PMC article.

7T 1H-MRS in major depressive disorder: a Ketamine Treatment Study . Evans JW, Lally N, An L, Li N, Nugent AC, Banerjee D, Snider SL, Shen J, Roiser JP, Zarate CA Jr. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Aug;43(9):1908-1914. doi: 10.1038/s41386-018-0057-1. Epub 2018 Apr 5. PMID: 29748628 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Default Mode Connectivity in Major Depressive Disorder Measured Up to 10 Days After Ketamine Administration . Evans JW, Szczepanik J, Brutsché N, Park LT, Nugent AC, Zarate CA Jr. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Oct 15;84(8):582-590. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.01.027. Epub 2018 Feb 15. PMID: 29580569 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.

Separating slow BOLD from non-BOLD baseline drifts using multi-echo fMRI . Evans JW, Kundu P, Horovitz SG, Bandettini PA.Neuroimage. 2015 Jan 15;105:189-97. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.10.051. Epub 2014 Oct 30. PMID: 25449746 Free PMC article.