Zarah van der Pal

I started my PhD at the department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the Amsterdam UMC in 2020. With a background in biomedical sciences, my interests lie in studying the biological mechanisms underlying behaviour using various neuroimaging techniques, such as structural, functional, and pharmacological MRI. My PhD project focuses on investigating the effects of ADHD medication such as methylphenidate on development of brain and behaviour, in order to improve understanding of heterogeneity in (treatment of) ADHD.

Currently, I am investigating how prior exposure to ADHD medication influences symptom interrelations in individuals with ADHD, and how this compares with typically developing control subjects. In parallel, I acquired data for the ePOD project, which investigates the long-term effects of methylphenidate treatment on development of brain and behaviour in adolescents and adults with ADHD. Moreover, in the coming months I will investigate the relation between the functional brain response to methylphenidate and long-term clinical outcome, and the added value of including neurobiological information.