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Drug addiction as a disease of the free will
Nora Volkow is a doctor, born in Mexico,
in 1956.
She is currently the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the US.
She studied her degree in medicine at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
in the Federal District.
Volkow's work has been fundamental
in demonstrating that drug addiction
is a disease of the human brain. As a psychiatric
researcher and scientist, she has pioneered
the use of brain imaging to investigate
the toxic effects of drugs and their
addictive properties.
Her studies have documented changes
in the dopamine system that affect actions of
the frontal
brain regions, involved in motivation, impulses
and pleasure, as well as documenting the
reduction with age of the role dopamine
plays in the brain.
Nora has also made important contributions
in the field of neurobiology
of obesity, attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder and conduct changes that occur with aging.
Throughout her career, Nora has received
numerous awards, and is a member of the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.