Jim Grigsby, Ph.D.

JG Headshot
Professor
Clinical Health Psychology

Mailing Address:
Department of Psychology 
Campus Box 173, PO Box 173364 
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Physical Location:
North Classroom Building
1200 Larimer Street
Room 5002E (5th floor)

Jim Grigsby is a faculty member in the CU Denver Psychology Department, where he teaches cognitive neuroscience/neuropsychology and supervises research for graduate students in the clinical health psychology doctoral program. Occasionally he writes biosketches about himself in the third person.  Grigsby also has a part-time appointment in the CU Denver School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Health Care Policy and Research, where he was a research scientist from 1992 until he came to the Psychology Department in 2008. He was a co-discoverer of the Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome, which he has studied for over 20 years.  Grigsby has an active research lab in which he works with both graduate and undergraduate students. In recent years, his primary interests have been in cognitive neuroscience, especially executive functioning, FXTAS, the gut-brain axis, and the psychotherapeutic uses and mechanism of psychedelic drugs and 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). He has had funding from NIH (NIA,NINDS, and NIDCD) and several other federal, state, and private agencies and organizations, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Defense (DOD), Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Grigsby has been a member of both the Teamsters and United Auto Workers unions, drove a concrete mixer truck, and was a firefighter-EMT Basic for 13 years.

1973, B.A., Psychology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

1976, M.A., Psychology, University of Regina (formerly University of Saskatchewan), Regina, Saskatchewan

1979, M.A. Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

1980, Ph.D., Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

Books –

Grob CS, Grigsby J (eds.): (2021) Handbook of medical hallucinogens. New York: Guilford Press.

Grigsby J, Stevens D: (2000) Neurodynamics of Personality. New York: Guilford Publications.

Grigsby J: (1997) Telemedicine: An application handbook. St. Louis: Southwestern Bell.

Selected papers –

Agin-Liebes G, Malone T, Mennenga S, Yalch M, Guss J, Bossis AP, Grigsby J, Fischer S, Ross S: (2020) Persistent effects of psilocybin therapy for psychiatric and existential distress in patients with life-threatening cancer: Long-term follow-up of randomized controlled trial. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 34, 155-166.

Hake HS, Sanchez A, Loetz EC, Ostrovskyy M, Wood RR, Oleson EB, Grigsby J, Doblin R, Greenwood BN: (2019) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) impairs the extinction and reconsolidation of fear memory in rats.  Physiology & Behavior, 199, 343-350.

Famula JL, McKenzie F, McLennan YA, Grigsby J, Tassone F, Hessl D, Rivera SM, Martinez Cerdeño V, Hagerman RJ: (2018) Presence of middle cerebellar peduncle sign in FMR1 premutation carriers without tremor and ataxia. Frontiers in Neurology—Neurodegeneration, 9:695.

Ot’alora G  M, Grigsby J, Poulter B, Van Derveer JW, Giron SG, Jerome I, Feduccia A, Hamilton S, Yazar-Klosinski B, Emerson A, Mithoefer M, Doblin R: (2018) 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized phase 2 controlled trial. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 32, 1295-1307.

Grigsby J:  (2016) The fragile X mental retardation 1 gene (FMR1):  Phenotypes, mechanism, pathology, and epidemiology. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 30, 815-833.

Filley CM, Brown MS, Onderko K, Ray M, Bennett RE, Berry-Kravis E, Grigsby J: (2015) White matter disease and cognitive impairment in FMR1 premutation carriers. Neurology, 84, 2146-2152.

Grigsby J, Cornish K, Hocking D, Kraan C, Olichney JM, Rivera SM, Schneider A, Sherman S, Wang JY, Yang J-C: (2014) The cognitive neuropsychological phenotype of carriers of the FMR1 premutation. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 6, 28-35.

Tran D, Baxter J, Hamman RF, Grigsby J: (2014) Impairment of executive cognitive control in type 2 Diabetes and its effects on health-related behaviors and use of health services. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 37, 414-422.

Webb CL, Waugh CL, Grigsby J, Berdusis K, Busenbark D, Sahn DJ, Sable CA: (2013) Impact of telemedicine on medical and financial outcomes in infants with suspected heart disease: A multi-center study. Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography, 26, 1090-1098.

Brega AG, Reynolds A, Bennett RE, Leehey MA, Bounds LS, Cogswell JB, Hagerman RJ, Hagerman PJ, Grigsby J: (2009) Functional status of men with the fragile X premutation, with and without the tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 24, 1101-1109.

Grigsby J, Brega AG, Engle K, Leehey MA, Hagerman RJ, Tassone F, Hessl D, Hagerman PJ, Cogswell JB, Bennett RE, Cook K, Hall DA, Bounds LS, Paulich MJ, Reynolds A: (2008) Cognitive profile of fragile X premutation carriers with and without fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome. Neuropsychology, 22, 48-60.

Barton PL, Brega AG, DeVore PA, Mueller K, Paulich MJ, Floersch NJ, Goodrich GK, Talkington SG, Bontrager J, Grigsby B, Hrincevich C, Neal S, Loker JL, Araya TM, Bennett RE, Krohn N, Grigsby J: (2007) Specialist physicians’ knowledge and beliefs about telemedicine: A comparison of users and non-users of the technology. Telemedicine and e-Health, 13, 487-499.

Leehey MA, Berry-Kravis E, Min S-J, Hall DA, Rice CD, Zhang L, Grigsby J, Greco CM, Reynolds A, Lara R, Cogswell J, Jacquemont S, Hessl DR, Tassone F, Hagerman R, Hagerman PJ: (2007) Progression of tremor and ataxia in male carriers of the FMR1 premutation. Movement Disorders, 22, 203-206.

Greco CM, Berman RF, Martin RM, Tassone F, Schwartz PH, Brunberg JA, Grigsby J, Hessl D, Becker EJ, Papazian J, Leehey MA, Hagerman RJ, Hagerman PJ: (2006) Neuropathology of fragile X-associated tremor-ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Brain, 129, 243-255.

Field M, Grigsby J: (2002) Telemedicine and remote patient monitoring. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288, 423-425.

Grigsby J, Kaye K, Shetterly SM, Baxter J, Morgenstern NE, Hamman RF: (2002) Prevalence of disorders of executive cognitive functioning among the elderly: Findings from the San Luis Valley Health and Aging Study. Neuroepidemiology, 21, 213-220.

Grigsby J, Kaye K, Baxter J, Shetterly SM, Hamman RF: (1998) Executive cognitive abilities and functional status among community-dwelling older persons in the San Luis Valley Health and Aging Study. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 46, 590-596.

Grigsby J, Kramer RE, Schneiders JL, Gates JR, Smith WB: (1998) Predicting outcome of anterior temporal lobectomy using simulated neural networks.  Epilepsia, 39, 61-66.

Undergraduate –

Introduction to Psychology

Biological Basis of Behavior

Human Cognition

Health Psychology

Neuropsychology

Topics in Psychology:  Consciousness, Agency, and the Self

Graduate –

Advanced Cognition and Emotion

Advanced Biological Basis of Behavior