Kelly Sagar, PhD

Kelly Sagar, PhD, is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core (CCNC) and Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) program, both directed by Dr. Staci Gruber. She joined the CCNC in 2009 as a research assistant, primarily working on studies investigating the neural substrates of psychiatric disorders and substance use. After spending several years working as a school psychologist, she ultimately decided to pursue a career in research, earning her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience with a concentration in addiction science.

Currently, Dr. Sagar’s research is focused on examining the impact of cannabinoid use utilizing neuropsychological measures, clinical assessments, and multimodal neuroimaging techniques. She is particularly interested in the differential impact of recreational versus medical cannabis use, and how factors such as age of onset and exposure to individual cannabinoids mediate cognitive and clinical effects.