Faculty Member: Dr. Derin Cobia

For this week’s spotlight, we want you to meet one of our wonderful faculty members! Dr. Derin Cobia is originally from Quincy, WA and is in his 11th year of teaching. He completed his undergraduate degree in psychology right here at BYU, while also minoring in Hebrew. He then went to grad school at St. Louis University before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Of his current research, Dr. Cobia shares, “I use brain scans to better understand the neurobiology of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Schizophrenia is one of the most severe and debilitating psychiatric disorders that affects millions of people. The more we understand this brain disease the better equipped we are to develop meaningful treatments and alter its developmental trajectory.” 

But how did Dr. Cobia first become interested in psychology? He says, “Like many psych majors I started out preparing for a career in medicine, but after the freshman pre-med seminar I realized it was the "idea" of being a physician that appealed more than actually being one. I knew I wanted to be in a helping profession, and after a few detours became attracted to psychology because of the introductory course (PSYCH 111). I was fascinated by behavior and the various explanations for alterations to it. As I progressed in the major I became interested in clinical neuropsychology (the study of brain-behavior relationships) from Dr. Erin Bigler, a faculty mentor here at BYU. I was completely enamored with the brain and its seemingly endless possibilities. Later in graduate school I was exposed to brain imaging methods for understanding brain disease and began working in a lab that studied schizophrenia. I was first exposed to schizophrenia patients as a Psych Tech at the Utah State Hospital years before, and I wanted to learn more about how to better characterize this complicated illness. Years later I am still curious about the brain features of schizophrenia and how best to understand the mechanisms behind improving treatment and care.”

If he wasn’t a professor/researcher, Dr. Cobia would be an electrical engineer—did you know he enjoys building electric guitars and effect pedals?! His advice to psychology students is to “Work hard, play hard!”