Nathan Kolla MD, PhD

Dr. Nathan J. Kolla is a Forensic Psychiatrist and Clinician Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Brain Health Imaging Centre in Toronto, Ontario. He earned his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan (Great Distinction) and went on to complete residency training in general psychiatry at the University of Toronto. Subsequently, he pursued a clinical fellowship in forensic psychiatry at New York University (NYU).

Dr. Kolla holds an MSc in Forensic Mental Health Science from King’s College London, UK (Distinction), and a PhD in Neuroimaging from the University of Toronto. He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and Vice President, Research and Academics, at Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care, a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Penetanguishene, Ontario, that has the only high-secure forensic psychiatry beds in the province. Dr. Kolla teaches a roster of undergraduate students, graduate students, medical students, and post-doctoral fellows at CAMH, where he heads the Violence Prevention Neurobiological Research Unit.

His laboratory website is the following: https://kollalab.ca/ He has developed expertise in neuroimaging (positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging) of psychiatric populations with high levels of aggression and impulsivity. In particular, he is interested in investigating the neurochemistry of pathological aggression in borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and psychopathy. Dr. Kolla has published approximately 70 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in Journals such as JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, and Progress in Neurobiology.

He has garnered over $2.5 million dollars in external, competitive funding as Principal Investigator from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Institute for Education and Research. Clinically, Dr. Kolla has worked as an inpatient psychiatrist on a minimum-secure forensic ward, a consultant psychiatrist in correctional services, and a consultant to a psychiatric fitness assessment court in downtown Toronto. An avid classical pianist, Dr. Kolla graduated from the Ecole Nationale de Musique in France prior to beginning university and is a Licentiate of Trinity College of Music, London, England. In 2015, he appeared as guest soloist performing a Mozart piano concerto with the Toronto Counterpoint Community Orchestra.