I'm a Senior Lecturer (Assistant/Associate Professor equivalent) at the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Australia. I am the Deputy Director of the Brain and Mental Health Hub within the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences. I also hold an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.
My research focuses on those things that make us most like robots (i.e., algorithmic approaches to learning and decision-making) and least like robots (i.e., developing capacities for introspection and insight of self-concept via meditation research) -- hence DALEC Lab. My goals in this research are to understand the human condition and to use the understanding to mitigate maladaptive functioning and increase adaptive functioning.
(1) Neurobehavioral basis and assessment of high-prevalence psychiatric disorders (i.e., anxiety, depression, substance use).
(2) Conceptualizations and implementations of mindfulness (especially in relation to high-prevalence psychiatric disorders).
3) Understanding decision-making processes among individuals with high-prevalence psychiatric disorders.
Dr. NICHOLAS T VAN DAM
Dr. NICHOLAS T VAN DAM
WHAT'S GOT MY ATTENTION
