Adriana J. Pavletic, MD, PhD

Biography

After coming to the USA in 1990, Dr. Pavletic did a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at the Swedish Hospital, Seattle, WA, and was a research associate in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington where she conducted NIH-funded clinical research on pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility. Prior to coming to NIH, Dr. Pavletic spent 10 years in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, first as a family medicine resident and later as a faculty, where she has received several awards for academic excellence and clinical research.

Research Interests

Dr. Pavletic’s research is based on her extensive experience in medical screening of healthy volunteers who participate in mental health and neuroscience research. Her “lab” is mental health clinic, and she shares her clinical observations and lessons learned through publications and formal teaching. While the role of mental health screening has long been established, her publications document previously underrecognized importance of medical screening for safety of participants and validity of research. In addition to benefits, she also explores potential harms of screening and strategies to minimize them. Other interests include interplay of physical and mental illness and physical manifestations of stress and emotional trauma.

Selected Publications

Why Knowing Healthy Controls Matters. Pavletic AJ. (2020) Int J Clin Pract PMID 31573729

Safety, Science, or Both? Deceptive Healthy Volunteers: Psychiatric Conditions Uncovered by Objective Methods of Screening. Pavletic AJ, Pao M. (2017) Psychosomatics. PMID 28651795

Early Disseminated Lyme Disease Causing False-Positive Serology for Primary Epstein-Barr Virus Infection: Report of 2 cases. Pavletic AJ, Marques AR (2017) Clin Infect Dis PMID 28379435

An Integrated View of Potassium Homeostasis. Pavletic AJ. (2015) N Engl J Med PMID 26510041

Exercise-Induced Elevation of Liver Enzymes in a Healthy Female Research Volunteer. Pavletic AJ, Pao M, Wright ME. (2015) Psychosomatics. PMID 26362917

Popular Dietary Supplement causes False-Positive Drug Screen for Amphetamines. Pavletic AJ, Pao M. (2014) Psychosomatic. PMID 23932535

Screening Electrocardiograms in Psychiatric Research: Implications for Physicians and Healthy Volunteers. Pavletic AJ, Pao M, Luckenbaugh DA, Pine DS, Rosing DR. (2014) Int J Clin Pract. PMID 24341305

Hyperkalemia Induced by Excessive Consumption of Dried Fruits-Manifestation of an Undiagnosed Eating Disorder? Pavletic AJ.(2011) Psychosomatics. PMID 21907077