Maria Kryza-Lacombe, PhD
Assistant Professor
Psychiatry
School of Medicine

Through clinical experiences with older adults during her neuropsychology training, she developed a strong interest in how mental and cognitive health interact in aging.

The role of positive valence system functions remains underexamined in aging research despite their importance for understanding resilience. Dr. Kryza-Lacombe is currently investigating how aging affects neural reward processing in depression and whether aberrant reward processes contribute to accelerated brain aging. Her impending work aims to comprehensively characterize neural positive valence system functions in late life depression using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This work will integrate these complementary methods to study neural mechanisms at the intersection of depression and cognitive decline and may provide a foundation for novel treatment targets. The ultimate goal of this research is to inform intervention approaches that prevent or address mental health disorders and cognitive dysfunction in older adults.

• Bioethical and critical consciousness in clinical translational neuroscience.
  Journal of clinical and translational science 2025 Fang A, Anderson RE, Carter S, Eckstrand K, Hsu KJ, Jones S, Kryza-Lacombe M, Peckham A, Siegle GJ, Uddin LQ, Weierich M, Woody ML, Illes J
• Cortico-limbic volume abnormalities in late life depression are distinct from β amyloid and white matter pathologies.
  Molecular psychiatry 2024 Mackin RS, Rhodes E, Kassel M, Kryza-Lacombe M, Burns E, Bickford D, Morin R, Tosun D, Landau S, Butters MA, Aisen P, Raman R, Saykin AJ, Toga A, Koeppe R, Jack C, Weiner MW, Nelson C, Insel PS
• Anxiety in late-life depression: Associations with brain volume, amyloid beta, white matter lesions, cognition, and functional ability.
  International psychogeriatrics 2024 Kryza-Lacombe M, Kassel MT, Insel PS, Rhodes E, Bickford D, Burns E, Butters MA, Tosun D, Aisen P, Raman R, Landau S, Saykin AJ, Toga AW, Jack CR, Koeppe R, Weiner MW, Nelson C, Mackin RS
• Anxiety in late-life depression is associated with poorer performance across multiple cognitive domains.
  Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS 2024 Kryza-Lacombe M, Kassel MT, Insel PS, Rhodes E, Bickford D, Burns E, Butters MA, Tosun D, Aisen P, Raman R, Saykin AJ, Toga AW, Jack CR, Weiner MW, Nelson C, Mackin RS
• Amplification of positivity for depression and anxiety: Neural prediction of treatment response.
  Behaviour research and therapy 2024 Kryza-Lacombe M, Spaulding I, Ku CK, Pearson N, Stein MB, Taylor CT
• What I see, what you say: How cross-method variation sharpens characterization of irritability in early childhood.
  International journal of methods in psychiatric research 2024 Parker AJ, Brock P, Kryza-Lacombe M, Briggs-Gowan M, Dougherty LR, Wakschlag LS, Wiggins JL
• Anxiety in late-life depression: Associations with brain volume, amyloid beta, white matter lesions, cognition, and functional ability.
  International psychogeriatrics 2024 Kryza-Lacombe M, Kassel MT, Insel PS, Rhodes E, Bickford D, Burns E, Butters MA, Tosun D, Aisen P, Raman R, Landau S, Saykin AJ, Toga AW, Jack CR, Koeppe R, Weiner MW, Nelson C, Mackin RS
• Relationship of Hoarding and Depression Symptoms in Older Adults.
  The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry 2023 Nutley S, Nguyen BK, Mackin RS, Insel PS, Tosun D, Butters M, Aisen P, Raman R, Saykin AJ, Toga AW, Jack C, Weiner MW, Nelson C, Kassel M, Kryza-Lacombe M, Eichenbaum J, Nosheny RL, Mathews CA
• Hoarding Symptoms in Late Life Depression are Associated With Greater Executive Dysfunction and Disability and Poorer Response to Depression Treatment.
  The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry 2023 Kassel MT, Kryza-Lacombe M, Insel PS, Rhodes E, Satre DD, Nelson JC, Tosun D, Mathews CA, Mackin RS
• Resting-State Connectivity Changes After Goal-Oriented Attentional Self-Regulation Training in Veterans With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: Preliminary Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial.
  Neurotrauma reports 2023 Kryza-Lacombe M, Santiago R, Hwang A, Raptentsetsang S, Maruyama BA, Chen J, Cassar M, Abrams G, Novakovic-Agopian T, Mukherjee P
• Irritability in early to middle childhood: Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with resting state amygdala and ventral striatum connectivity.
  Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2023 Liuzzi MT, Kryza-Lacombe M, Christian IR, Owen C, Redcay E, Riggins T, Dougherty LR, Wiggins JL
• Roads Diverged: Developmental Trajectories of Irritability From Toddlerhood Through Adolescence.
  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2022 Yu Q, Hodgdon EA, Kryza-Lacombe M, Osuna L, Bozzetto LE, Ciro D, Wakschlag LS, Wiggins JL
• Executive functioning moderates neural mechanisms of irritability during reward processing in youth.
  Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging 2022 Kryza-Lacombe M, Palumbo D, Wakschlag LS, Dougherty LR, Wiggins JL
• Executive Functioning and the Pursuit of Happiness.
  Learning and motivation 2021 Kryza-Lacombe M, Tanzini E, Yali AM, O'Neill S
• Altered regional homogeneity in patients with ovarian cancer treated with chemotherapy: a resting state fMRI study.
  Brain imaging and behavior 2021 Vachha BA, Gohel S, Root JC, Kryza-Lacombe M, Hensley ML, Correa DD
• Irritability-related neural responses to frustrative nonreward in adolescents with trauma histories: A preliminary investigation.
  Developmental psychobiology 2021 Hodgdon EA, Yu Q, Kryza-Lacombe M, Liuzzi MT, Aspe GI, Menacho VC, Bozzetto L, Dougherty L, Wiggins JL
• Reward-related neural correlates of early life stress in school-aged children.
  Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2021 Morelli NM, Liuzzi MT, Duong JB, Kryza-Lacombe M, Chad-Friedman E, Villodas MT, Dougherty LR, Wiggins JL
• Changes in neural reward processing following Amplification of Positivity treatment for depression and anxiety: Preliminary findings from a randomized waitlist controlled trial.
  Behaviour research and therapy 2021 Kryza-Lacombe M, Pearson N, Lyubomirsky S, Stein MB, Wiggins JL, Taylor CT
• Neural mechanisms of reward processing in adolescent irritability.
  Developmental psychobiology 2021 Kryza-Lacombe M, Hernandez B, Owen C, Reynolds RC, Wakschlag LS, Dougherty LR, Wiggins JL
• Executive functioning moderates neural reward processing in youth.
  Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience 2020 Kryza-Lacombe M, Christian IR, Liuzzi MT, Owen C, Hernandez B, Dougherty LR, Wiggins JL
• Neural and behavioral correlates of inhibitory control in youths with varying levels of irritability.
  Journal of affective disorders 2020 Liuzzi MT, Kryza-Lacombe M, Christian IR, Palumbo DE, Amir N, Wiggins JL
• Attention shifting in the context of emotional faces: Disentangling neural mechanisms of irritability from anxiety.
  Depression and anxiety 2020 Kryza-Lacombe M, Kiefer C, Schwartz KTG, Strickland K, Wiggins JL
• Genetic variants and cognitive functions in patients with brain tumors.
  Neuro-oncology 2019 Correa DD, Satagopan J, Martin A, Braun E, Kryza-Lacombe M, Cheung K, Sharma A, Dimitriadoy S, O'Connell K, Leong S, Karimi S, Lyo J, DeAngelis LM, Orlow I
• Face Emotion Processing in Pediatric Irritability: Neural Mechanisms in a Sample Enriched for Irritability With Autism Spectrum Disorder.
  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2019 Kryza-Lacombe M, Iturri N, Monk CS, Wiggins JL
• Social and Non-social Reward: A Preliminary Examination of Clinical Improvement and Neural Reactivity in Adolescents Treated With Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety and Depression.
  Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience 2019 Schwartz KTG, Kryza-Lacombe M, Liuzzi MT, Weersing VR, Wiggins JL
• Longitudinal cognitive assessment in patients with primary CNS lymphoma treated with induction chemotherapy followed by reduced-dose whole-brain radiotherapy or autologous stem cell transplantation.
  Journal of neuro-oncology 2019 Correa DD, Braun E, Kryza-Lacombe M, Ho KW, Reiner AS, Panageas KS, Yahalom J, Sauter CS, Abrey LE, DeAngelis LM, Omuro A
• Neural mechanisms of face emotion processing in youths and adults with bipolar disorder.
  Bipolar disorders 2019 Kryza-Lacombe M, Brotman MA, Reynolds RC, Towbin K, Pine DS, Leibenluft E, Wiggins JL
• Patient-reported health-related quality of life outcomes in supportive-care interventions for adults with brain tumors: A systematic review.
  Psycho-oncology 2018 Pan-Weisz TM, Kryza-Lacombe M, Burkeen J, Hattangadi-Gluth J, Malcarne VL, McDonald CR
• Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives: Associations with Academic Achievement and Negative Emotional States among Urban College Students.
  Journal of happiness studies 2018 Kryza-Lacombe M, Tanzini E, Neill SO
• Preschool- and School-Age Irritability Predict Reward-Related Brain Function.
  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2018 Dougherty LR, Schwartz KTG, Kryza-Lacombe M, Weisberg J, Spechler PA, Wiggins JL
• Prognostic awareness and communication preferences among caregivers of patients with malignant glioma.
  Psycho-oncology 2017 Applebaum AJ, Buda K, Kryza-Lacombe M, Buthorn JJ, Walker R, Shaffer KM, D'Agostino TA, Diamond EL
• Brain structure and function in patients with ovarian cancer treated with first-line chemotherapy: a pilot study.
  Brain imaging and behavior 2017 Correa DD, Root JC, Kryza-Lacombe M, Mehta M, Karimi S, Hensley ML, Relkin N
• A pilot study of neuropsychological functions, APOE and amyloid imaging in patients with gliomas.
  Journal of neuro-oncology 2017 Correa DD, Kryza-Lacombe M, Zhou X, Baser RE, Beattie BJ, Beiene Z, Humm J, DeAngelis LM, Orlow I, Weber W, Osborne J
• Prognostic awareness, prognostic communication, and cognitive function in patients with malignant glioma.
  Neuro-oncology 2017 Diamond EL, Prigerson HG, Correa DC, Reiner A, Panageas K, Kryza-Lacombe M, Buthorn J, Neil EC, Miller AM, DeAngelis LM, Applebaum AJ
• Neural reactivity to reward in school-age offspring of depressed mothers.
  Journal of affective disorders 2017 Wiggins JL, Schwartz KT, Kryza-Lacombe M, Spechler PA, Blankenship SL, Dougherty LR
• COMT, BDNF, and DTNBP1 polymorphisms and cognitive functions in patients with brain tumors.
  Neuro-oncology 2016 Correa DD, Satagopan J, Cheung K, Arora AK, Kryza-Lacombe M, Xu Y, Karimi S, Lyo J, DeAngelis LM, Orlow I
• Cognitive effects of donepezil therapy in patients with brain tumors: a pilot study.
  Journal of neuro-oncology 2016 Correa DD, Kryza-Lacombe M, Baser RE, Beal K, DeAngelis LM
• Existential distress among caregivers of patients with brain tumors: a review of the literature.
  Neuro-oncology practice 2015 Applebaum AJ, Kryza-Lacombe M, Buthorn J, DeRosa A, Corner G, Diamond EL
• Rates and risks for late referral to hospice in patients with primary malignant brain tumors.
  Neuro-oncology 2015 Diamond EL, Russell D, Kryza-Lacombe M, Bowles KH, Applebaum AJ, Dennis J, DeAngelis LM, Prigerson HG