Kent Kiehl

Professor

Photo: Kent Kiehl
Email: 
kkiehl@unm.edu
Phone: 
(505) 925-4516
Office: 
Mind Research Network, 1101 Yale Blvd NE (north campus of UNM)
Education: 
Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 2000
Personal Website
 
Lab Website
 
Curriculum vitae
 

Research Interests:

  • Development of Behavior Prediction Models: Our team decodes brain structure and function to help predict outcomes such as recidivism, treatment success, and relapse to substance use. Predicting these outcomes helps us identify key variables we can then translate into novel intervention strategies.
  • Psychopathy (aka psychopathic personality): - Assessment of psychopathy using self-report, caregiver/collateral informant reports, expert-rater devices (i.e., Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare PCL-R)). - Training Clinicians/Students to use the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised - Implications of psychopathy for the legal system (i.e., recidivism, treatment outcomes, risk assessments) - Treatment for psychopathy - Neuroscience of psychopathy
  • Cognitive Neuroscience - Utility of neuroimaging techniques to inform psychiatric illnesses (i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, ADHD)
  • Methods of Cognitive Neuroscience - Training students/clinicians in neuroimaging methods
  • Neuroscience and Law - State and Federal Judge education on Neuroscience and the Law
  • Legal consultant on cases of neuroscience and/or psychopathy in the legal system
  • Cetacean Cognition - using EEG/brain waves to assess cognitive function in dolphins and whales

Profile:

Accepting students?  Dr. Kiehl is interested in accepting a student for Fall 2026.  Please email Dr. Kiehl if you are interested in pursuing graduate studies.

 

Kent Kiehl’s laboratory has worked closely with correctional facilities in New Mexico and other states to establish the world’s largest database of brain data from incarcerated populations.  We utilize twin state-of-the-art mobile MRI units which can be deployed to remote locations, reaching populations for which functional brain imaging might otherwise be impossible or severely impractical.  These resources and relationships have been instrumental in the investigation of mental health issues that are particularly prevalent in those who are incarcerated, including psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, trauma, substance abuse, and externalizing disorders. We maintain several ongoing projects with an overall goal of achieving a better understanding of the interaction between brain function, genetics, and environmental factors ultimately informing improved interventions and prevention strategies and promoting better mental and behavioral health in high-risk populations.

Selected Publications

Rodriguez, S.N., Gullapalli, A.R., Stephenson, D.D., Maurer, J.M., Harenski, K.A., Harenski, C.L., & Kiehl, K.A. (2025). Machine learning of clinical and neural data predicts future homicide in high-risk youth. NatureScientific Reports, 16, 2920

Kiehl, K.A., Anderson, N.E., Aharoni, E., Maurer, J.M., Harenski, K.A., Rao, V., Claus, E.D., Harenski, C., Koenigs, M., Decety, J. & Kosson, D., 2018. Age of gray matters: Neuroprediction of recidivism. NeuroImage: Clinical, 19, 813-823.

Edwards, B. G., Ermer, E., Salovey, P., & Kiehl, K. A. (2018). Emotional intelligence in incarcerated female offenders with psychopathic traits. Journal of Personality Disorders, 1-24.

Steele, V.R., Maurer, J.M., Arbabshirani, M.R., Claus, E.D., Fink, B.C., Rao, V., Calhoun, V.D. & Kiehl, K.A., 2018. Machine learning of functional magnetic resonance imaging network connectivity predicts substance abuse treatment completion. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 3, 141-149.

Vincent, G. M., Cope, L. M., King, J., Nyalakanti, P., & Kiehl, K. A. (2018). Callous-unemotional traits modulate brain drug craving response in high-risk young offenders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(5), 993-1009.

Vergara, V. M., Mayer, A. R., Damaraju, E., Kiehl, K. A., & Calhoun, V. (2017). Detection of mild traumatic brain injury by machine learning classification using resting state functional network connectivity and fractional anisotropy. Journal of Neurotrauma, 34(5), 1045-1053.

Aharoni, E., Vincent, G. M., Harenski, C. L., Calhoun, V. D., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Gazzaniga, M. S., & Kiehl, K. A. (2013). Neuroprediction of future rearrest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110, 6223–6228.

Courses Taught

  • Neurolobo – MRI image acquisition and analyses course (450L/650L). 
  • Psychology, Neuroscience and Law Undergraduate/Graduate Seminar (Psychology 450/650)
  • Clinical Cognitive Neuroscience Undergraduate/Graduate Seminar (Psychology 450/650; offered every other year)
  • Introduction to Neuroimaging Analysis (Psychology 450/650).
  • Psychology, Neuroscience and Law Laboratory (Psychology 450L)

Lab

 

Program Manager/ Associate Professor of Translational Neuroscience:

Carla Harenski, Ph.D.

 

Assistant Professors of Translational Neuroscience:

Nathaniel Anderson, Ph.D.

Bethany Edwards, Ph.D.

J. Michael Maurer, Ph.D.

Jenna Shold, Ph.D. 

David Stephenson, Ph.D.

Aparna Gullapalli, Ph.D.

 

Admin Assistant

Valerie Baeza (vbaeza@mrn.org)

 

Post-Doctoral Fellows:

Corey Allen, Ph.D.

 

Graduate Students:

Samantha Rodriguez

Michaela Milillo

 

Mobile MRI Manager:

Keith Harenski, B.S.

 

Research Analyst/Programmers:

Aparna Gullapalli, Ph.D.

David Stephenson, Ph.D.

 

Research Staff - New Mexico:

Lauren Behnk

Taylor Budge

Mari Chavez

Victoria Knebel

Jennifer Friberg

Isaac Sanchez

Adyson Tarry

Anna Tenaglia

Nicoletta Veracco

 

Volunteer – New Mexico

Savannah Gutierrez

 

Work Study – New Mexico

Abby Santhanam

 

Ph.D. Lab Alumni:

Samantha Fede, Ph.D., The University of New Mexico

Vaughn Steele, Ph.D., University of Minnesota

Eyal Aharoni, Ph.D, University of California, Santa Barbara

Elsa Ermer, Ph.D, University of California, Santa Barbara

Lora Cope, Ph.D. The University of New Mexico

 

Collaborators:

Vince Calhoun, Ph.D., Georgia State University

Tor Wager, Dartmouth College

Michael Koenigs, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael Caldwell, Psy.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center

Jean Decety, Ph.D., University of Chicago

Eyal Aharoni, Ph.D., Georgia State University

David Kosson, Ph.D., Rosalind Franklin University

Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.D., University of New Mexico

Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Duke University

 

Current Open Job Positions

visit www.mrn.org/careers to apply