Erin E. Morgan, PhD

Graduate Institution

SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology

Research Description

My research focuses on the independent and combined effects of HIV and addiction on neurocognitive and everyday functioning consequences. A theme of my work is the examination of cognitive models in clinical populations with the goal of expanding the characterization of the central nervous system consequences of these conditions and to possibly identify factors that are highly relevant to real world outcomes. Examples of the cognitive models I have explored include intraindividual variability in neurocognitive performance, cognitive reserve, and more recently, social and emotional cognition. As part of the Translational Methamphetamine AIDS Research Center (TMARC), I am Project Director and PI of a study examining whether impairments in social and emotional cognition due to HIV and methamphetamine dependence relate to HIV transmission risk behavior.

Representative Publications

• Morgan, E. E., Woods, S. P., & Grant, I. (2012). Intra-individual neurocognitive variability confers risk of dependence in activities of daily living among HIV-seropositive individuals without HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, acs003.

• Morgan, E. E., Woods, S. P., Smith, C., Weber, E., Scott, J. C., Grant, I., & HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP) Group. (2012). Lower cognitive reserve among individuals with syndromic HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). AIDS and Behavior, 16(8), 2279-2285.

• Grabyan, J.M., Morgan, E.E., Cameron, M.V., Villalobos, J., Grant, I., Woods, S.P., & The HNRP Group. (2015). Facial emotion processing deficits and social functioning capacity in HIV-associated Neurocognitive Disorders. Manuscript under review.

Collaborators

Igor Grant, MD / Robert K. Heaton, PhD / Jennifer E. Iudicello, PhD