Jennifer Felger, PhD

Research Program

Cancer Prevention and Control
Phone Number

404-727-3987
Email Address

jfelger@emory.edu

Biography

Jennifer Felger, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Felger also is the laboratory director of the Emory Mind-Body Program. She studies the effects of inflammatory cytokines on neurotransmitters and neural circuits as they relate to behavioral change. She also collaborates with researchers at Winship Cancer Institute and Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing to examine molecular and cellular pathways of immune activation in cancer patients who experience behavioral change in response to treatment.

Dr. Felger is a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Education

Dr. Felger earned her PhD in Neuroscience from Emory University. She then continued her training in Neuroscience and Immunology as a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University.

Titles & Roles

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Emory University School of Medicine

Research

Dr. Felger is currently exploring the role of dopamine in alterations in neurocircuitry associated with increased inflammation in patients with major depression using fMRI and continuing her translational work to better understand the underlying neural and metabolic pathways by which cytokines may affect dopamine and glutamate to mediate depressive symptoms. She is also involved in ongoing projects examining the molecular and cellular pathways of immune activation in patients with major depression and in cancer patients who experience behavioral change in response to therapy.

Grants

View Grants

Grant Number	Title
1R01MH128872-01	The Role of Inflammation in CNS Mechanisms of Anhedonia and Psychomotor Slowing in Depressed PWH as Determined using a Next Generation TNF Antagonist
5R01MH128872-02	The Role of Inflammation in CNS Mechanisms of Anhedonia and Psychomotor Slowing in Depressed PWH as Determined using a Next Generation TNF Antagonist
5R01MH128872-03	The Role of Inflammation in CNS Mechanisms of Anhedonia and Psychomotor Slowing in Depressed PWH as Determined using a Next Generation TNF Antagonist

Publications

Title/Journal	Authors	Publication Date
Inflammation is associated with avolition and reduced resting state functional connectivity in corticostriatal reward circuitry in patients with schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology	DR Goldsmith, CS Ning, GP Strauss, RE Gross, JA Cooper, EC Wommack, E Haroon, JC Felger, EF Walker, MT Treadway, AH Miller	04/24/2025
Not All Neuroinflammation Is Created Equal: The Dual Nature of Astrogliosis. Biological psychiatry	E Haroon, JC Felger, AH Miller	04/15/2025
Designing Clinical Trials for an Inflammatory Subtype of Major Depressive Disorder. Biological psychiatry	AH Miller, JC Felger, E Haroon	04/10/2025
A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial of TNF antagonism for motivational deficits and related corticostriatal circuitry in depressed patients with high inflammation. Molecular psychiatry	MT Treadway, SM Etuk, JA Cooper, S Hossein, E Hahn, SA Betters, S Liu, AR Arulpragasam, BAM DeVries, N Irfan, MR Nuutinen, EC Wommack, BJ Woolwine, M Bekhbat, PA Kragel, JC Felger, E Haroon, AH Miller	04/01/2025
Neurotransmitter and metabolic effects of interferon-alpha in association with decreased striatal dopamine in a non-human primate model of cytokine-Induced depression. Brain, behavior, and immunity	M Bekhbat, AM Block, SY Dickinson, GK Tharp, SE Bosinger, JC Felger	03/01/2025
Sustained effects of repeated levodopa (L-DOPA) administration on reward circuitry, effort-based motivation, and anhedonia in depressed patients with higher inflammation. Brain, behavior, and immunity	M Bekhbat, Z Li, BW Dunlop, MT Treadway, ND Mehta, KP Revill, MJ Lucido, C Hong, A Ashchi, EC Wommack, DR Goldsmith, E Haroon, AH Miller, JC Felger	03/01/2025
Lipids and C-reactive protein predict anhedonia and reward circuit functional connectivity responses to anti-cytokine and dopaminergic therapies in patients with depression. Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology	A Singh, M Bekhbat, DR Goldsmith, NA Le, EC Wommack, Z Li, E Haroon, JC Felger	02/01/2025
DNA methylation profiles of cancer-related fatigue associated with markers of inflammation and immunometabolism. Molecular psychiatry	C Xiao, G Peng, KN Conneely, H Zhao, JC Felger, EC Wommack, KA Higgins, DM Shin, NF Saba, DW Bruner, AH Miller	01/01/2025
A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial of TNF antagonism for motivational anhedonia and related corticostriatal circuitry in depressed patients with high inflammation. Research square	M Treadway, S Etuk, J Cooper, S Hossein, E Hahn, S Betters, S Liu, A Arulpragasam, B DeVries, N Irfan, M Nuutinen, E Wommack, B Woolwine, M Bekhbat, P Kragel, J Felger, E Haroon, A Miller	03/05/2024
C-reactive protein moderates associations between racial discrimination and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation during attention to threat in Black American women. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology	A Elbasheir, JC Felger, V Michopoulos, TD Ely, EC Wommack, SE Carter, NG Harnett, N Fani	02/01/2024

Awards

In 2020, Dr. Felger received the Emory 1% Award which recognizes Emory faculty whose National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposals have been ranked in the top 1% by NIH reviewers. She is also the recipient of a KL2 Scholarship through the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute and a 2014 NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation.