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Nadia Chaudhri (January 25, 1978 – October 5, 2021) was a Pakistani-Canadian psychologist. She was a professor of psychology at Concordia University where she researched drug and alcohol abuse.

Early life and education

Nadia Chaudhri was born on January 25, 1978, in Karachi, to Abdul Shakoor and Susan Mary Chaudhri. She was raised in Karachi. Since her mother was raised in England, she grew up around Western influence and father who allowed her to pursue higher education overseas. She moved to the United States at the age of 17 and attended Franklin & Marshall College for her bachelor's degree in biological foundations of behavior with a concentration in neuroscience studies. She graduated in 1999 with a 3.9 grade point average and the Williamson Medal as F&M's top senior. Chaudhri then received a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship to complete her doctoral degree at the University of Pittsburgh. Her thesis was titled "Complex interactions between nicotine and nonpharmacological stimuli reveal a novel role for nicotine in reinforcement".

Career

Chaudhri completed her post-doctoral training at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco. In this role, she found that the physical surroundings where alcohol cues are experienced can greatly influence the ability of those cues to trigger a relapse. Chaudhri eventually joined the Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN) and the Department of Psychology at Concordia University in January 2010 as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor with tenure in June 2014.

At Concordia, Chaudhri’s research program has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research, Fonds de recherche Santé Québec and Concordia University. Her research team, composed of undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, studied the effect that environmental cues have on drug use, misuse and relapse. Specifically, they studied the psychological processes that underpin how people associate stimuli in the environment with the psychopharmacological effects of drugs. In addition, they used a suite of advanced neuroscientific techniques to understand the brain systems and processes that underpin these associations. The ultimate goal of this research is to help people who have substance use disorders overcome the powerful effects that drug-predictive cues can have on drug-seeking behaviour and relapse.

During her tenure at Concordia, Chaudhri and her laboratory associates studied the effect environmental cues can have on drug use. In her first year as an associate professor, Chaudhri won the inaugural Journal of Visualized Experiments JoVE video abstract contest after she showed Pavlovian-conditioned alcohol-seeking is mediated by dopamine. Later, Chaudhri and colleague Andrew Chapman published Optogenetic Activation of the Infralimbic Cortex Suppresses the Return of Appetitive Pavlovian-Conditioned Responding Following Extinction, which demonstrated how stimulation of the brain’s infralimbic cortex could inhibit responses to environmental cues that predict sugar.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chaudhri underwent chemotherapy treatment for advanced ovarian cancer. Since her illness, she launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money in support of young scholars. Funds from the campaign are earmarked for travel awards to allow young scholars to participate in the annual meeting for the Research Society on Alcoholism. She was also named a Concordia University Research Fellow.

Personal life

Chaudhri and her husband had a son. Chaudhri died on October 5, 2021, more than a year after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

References

1. ^ "'She was a force of nature': Nadia Chaudhri, 1978 – 2021, passes away". www.concordia.ca. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
2. ^ Williams, Annabelle (October 20, 2021). "Nadia Chaudhri, Scientist With an End-of-Life Mission, Dies at 43". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
3. Roggie, Alyssa (May 10, 1999). "From Pakistan to F&M, she's making her mark". Intelligencer Journal. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
4. @DrNadiaChaudhri (April 13, 2021). "When I was seventeen I left #Karachi for college in the USA. Only 2 suitcases allowed but all my mixed tapes came with me. Yesterday I got an incredibly thoughtful gift from @milaniuum & @pisanty_ivan. A player to listen to my tapes & covert to mp3s" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. O'Connor, David (May 10, 1999). "Science major adds Williamson Medal to long list of honors". Lancaster New Era. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021 – via newspapers.com.
6. "HHMI Awards Predoctoral, Medical Student Fellowships". hhmi.org. June 9, 2000. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
7. "CNUP ALUMNI". ieee-iri.org. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
8. "Right Place + Right Time Can Trigger Drinking". sciencedaily.com. Science Daily. July 31, 2008. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
9. ^ "Nadia Chaudhri, PhD". concordia.ca. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
10. ^ "Our First JOVE Contest Winner!" (PDF). med-associates.com. Winter 2014. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
11. "What can Pavlov's dogs tell us about drinking?". eurekalert.org. Eurekalert. May 25, 2016. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
12. Villaruel, F. R.; Lacroix, F.; Sanio, C.; Sparks, D. W.; Chapman, C. A.; Chaudhri, N. (December 2018). "Optogenetic Activation of the Infralimbic Cortex Suppresses the Return of Appetitive Pavlovian-Conditioned Responding Following Extinction". Cerebral Cortex. 28 (12): 4210–4221. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhx275. PMID 29045570. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
13. Dunk, Renee (February 13, 2018). "Researchers discover ability to improve resistance to temptation". concordia.ca. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
14. Gyulai, Linda (March 1, 2021). "Why aren't Quebecers with cancer higher on the COVID-19 vaccine priority list?". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
15. Elkouri, Rima (April 15, 2021). "Tout n'est pas terminal" (in French). La Presse. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
16. Schwartz, Susan (September 1, 2021). "Dying Concordia neuroscientist raising funds for scholarship in her name". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
17. Cohen, J. (September 16, 2020). "The university celebrates standout research". concordia.ca. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
18. Schwartz, Susan (October 7, 2021). "Obituary: Facing death, neuroscientist Nadia Chaudhri taught us how to live". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on October 7, 2021. Retrieved October 7, 2021.

External links

• Nadia Chaudhri publications indexed by Google Scholar

• 1978 births
• 2021 deaths
• Canadian psychologists
• Pakistani emigrants to Canada
• Concordia University faculty
• Franklin & Marshall College alumni
• University of Pittsburgh alumni
• Academics from Karachi
• Deaths from cancer in Quebec
• Deaths from ovarian cancer