Susan M. Ferguson PhD
Dr. Susan Ferguson is the current Director of the Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute (ADAI), and has served in this role since July 1, 2019.
Dr. Ferguson holds a faculty position in the UW School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and serves as faculty in the UW Neuroscience Program. She also leads a research lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.
Dr. Ferguson’s research investigates the neural basis of opioid and psychostimulant addiction, as well as polysubstance use. Her research uses a multi-level approach, combining molecular biology, anatomical circuit-tracing and behavioral neuroscience, to understand the development of behaviors associated with drug reward and addiction, as well as in the processes that underlie decision-making, motivation and impulsivity. In addition, she examines how environmental factors, such as extended exposure to sensory stimulation, modulate the development of these behaviors. She’s published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and other publications.
Dr. Ferguson received her undergraduate degree and PhD from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington.
Titles
Director, UW Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute
Professor, UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Faculty in Graduate Program in Neurosciences
Education
BS, Biopsychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Michigan
PhD, Neuroscience, University of Michigan
ORCID: 0000-0002-2840-757X
Recent Publications
- Salinsky LM, Diaz KC, Fox JL, Panh SM, Ferguson SM. Fentanyl, methamphetamine and polysubstance use differentially affect locomotor sensitisation and social behaviour in rats: Psychedelic treatment reverses social deficits. Addiction Biology 2026;31(3):e70132. [doi: 10.1111/adb.70132]
- O'Neal TJ, Bernstein MX, MacDougall DJ, Ferguson SM. A conditioned place preference for heroin is signaled by increased dopamine and direct pathway activity and decreased indirect pathway activity in the nucleus accumbens. Journal of Neuroscience 2022;42(10):2011-2024 [doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1451-21.2021] PMID: 35031576 PMCID: PMC8916759
- Nakata KG, Yin E, Sutlief E, Ferguson SM. Chemogenetic modulation reveals distinct roles of the subthalamic nucleus and its afferents in the regulation of locomotor sensitization to amphetamine in rats. Psychopharmacology 2022;239(2):353-364. [doi: 10.1007/s00213-021-05985-7] PMID: 34549316
- Crummy EA, Donckels EA, Baskin BM, Bentzley BS, Ferguson SM. The impact of cocaine and heroin drug history on motivation and cue sensitivity in a rat model of polydrug abuse. Psychopharmacology 2020;237(1):55-68. [doi: 10.1007/s00213-019-05349-2] PMID: 31463541 PMCID: PMC7458349
- O’Neal TJ, Nooney MN, Thien K, Ferguson SM. Chemogenetic modulation of accumbens direct or indirect pathways bidirectionally alters reinstatement of heroin-seeking in high- but not low-risk rats. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020;45:1251-1262. [doi:10.1038/s41386-019-0571-9] PMID: 31747681 PMCID: PMC7297977
Activities
Principal Investigator, Center for Integrative Brain Research (SCRI)
Faculty Liaison, Office of Teaching, Education, and Research (SCRI)
Member, UW Center for Excellence in Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain, and Emotion (NAPE)
