Francesco Versace
Department of Behavioral Science, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences
About Francesco Versace
My current line of research focuses on identifying the psychophysiological underpinnings of smoking and obesity, the two major causes of preventable disease and disabilities in the United States. By leveraging the spatial and temporal resolution of brain imaging techniques such as dense sensor array event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), my studies aim at characterizing the dysfunctional brain mechanisms that mediate maladaptive responses to rewards and reward-related cues. The ultimate goal of my work is to develop neurocircuitry-informed, tailored interventions for smoking cessation and weight-loss.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Associate Professor, Department of Behavioral Science, Division of OVP, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2003 | Universita' di Trieste, Trieste, ITA, PHD, Experimental Psychology |
| 1997 | Universita' di Bologna, Bologna, ITA, Laurea, Psychology |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Department of Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Division of Basic Science Research, Oklahoma Tobacco Research Center and Stephenson Cancer Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, 2015 - 2017
Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral Science, Division of OVP, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2011 - 2015
Instructor, Department of Behavioral Science, Division of OVP, Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2007 - 2011
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Department of Psychology, The University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 2006 - 2007
Institutional Committee Activities
Member, Radiology Chair Search Committee, 2018 - 2019
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Frank DW, Cinciripini PM, Deweese MM, Karam-Hage M, Kypriotakis G, Lerman C, Robinson JD, Tyndale RF, Vidrine DJ, Versace F. Toward precision medicine for smoking cessation: developing a neuroimaging-based classification algorithm to identify smokers at higher risk for relapse. Nicotine Tob Res 22(8):1277-1284, 2020. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31724052.
- Kypriotakis G, Cinciripini PM, Versace F. Modeling Neuroaffective Biomarkers of Drug Addiction: A Bayesian Nonparametric Approach using Dirichlet Process Mixtures. J Neurosci Methods 341:108753, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 32428623.
- Frank DW, Stevens EM, Versace F.. A neurophysiological measure of reward sensitivity and its association with anhedonia in psychiatrically healthy adolescents and young adults. Int J Psychophysiol 141:56-64 doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.05.002, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31071360.
- Versace F, Stevens EM, Robinson JD, Cui Y, Deweese MM, Engelmann JM, Green CE, Karam-Hage M, Lam CY, Minnix JA, Wetter DW, Cinciripini PM. Brain responses to cigarette-related and emotional images in smokers during smoking cessation: no effect of varenicline or bupropion on the late positive potential. Nicotine Tob Res 21(2):234-240 doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntx264, 2019. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29220524.
- Deweese MM, Codispoti M, Robinson JD, Cinciripini PM, Versace F.. Cigarette cues capture attention of smokers and never-smokers, but for different reasons. Drug Alcohol Depend 185(185):50-57 doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.12.010, 2018. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29427915.
- Cinciripini PM, Green CE, Robinson JD, Karam-Hage M, Engelmann JM, Minnix JA, Wetter DW, Versace F.. Benefits of varenicline vs. bupropion for smoking cessation: a Bayesian analysis of the interaction of reward sensitivity and treatment. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 234(11):1769-1779, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 28275830.
- Versace F, Engelmann JM, Deweese MM, Robinson JD, Green CE, Lam CY, Minnix JA, Karam-Hage MA, Wetter DW, Schembre SM, Cinciripini PM. Beyond cue reactivity: non-drug-related motivationally relevant stimuli are necessary to understand reactivity to drug-related cues. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 19(6):663-669, 2017. PMID: 28486715.
- Robinson JD, Versace F, Engelmann JM, Cui Y, Gilbert DG, Waters AJ, Gritz ER, Cinciripini PM. Attentional bias to smoking and other motivationally relevant cues is affected by nicotine exposure and dose expectancy. J Psychopharmacol 30(7):627-40, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27097731.
- Engelmann JM, Versace F, Gewirtz JC, Cinciripini PM. Individual differences in brain responses to cigarette-related cues and pleasant stimuli in young smokers. Drug Alcohol Depend 163:229-35, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27141838.
- Versace F, Kypriotakis G, Basen-Engquist K, Schembre SM. Heterogeneity in brain reactivity to pleasant and food cues: evidence of sign-tracking in humans. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 11(4):604-11, 2016. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26609106.
- Deweese MM, Robinson JD, Cinciripini PM, Versace F.. Conditioned cortical reactivity to cues predicting cigarette-related or pleasant images. Int J Psychophysiol 101:59-68, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 26826400.
- Miccoli L, Delgado R, Guerra P, Versace F, Rodríguez-Ruiz S, Fernández-Santaella MC. Affective pictures and the open library of affective foods (OLAF): tools to investigate emotions toward food in adults. PLoS One 11(8):e0158991, 2016. e-Pub 2016. PMID: 27513636.
- Meyer MJ, Coull BA, Versace F, Cinciripini P, Morris JS. Bayesian function-on-function regression for multilevel functional data. Biometrics 71(3):563-74, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 25787146.
- Deweese MM, Claiborne KN, Ng J, Dirba DD, Stewart HL, Schembre SM, Versace F.. Dispensing apparatus for use in a cued food delivery task. MethodsX 2:446-57, 2015. e-Pub 2015. PMID: 26870667.
- Cui Y, Versace F, Engelmann JM, Minnix JA, Robinson JD, Lam CY, Karam-Hage M, Brown VL, Wetter DW, Dani JA, Kosten TR, Cinciripini PM. Alpha oscillations in response to affective and cigarette-related stimuli in smokers. Nicotine Tobacco Research 15(5):917-24, 2013. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 23060019.
- Cinciripini PM, Robinson JD, Karam-Hage M, Minnix JA, Lam C, Versace F, Brown VL, Engelmann JM, Wetter DW. Effects of varenicline and bupropion sustained-release use plus intensive smoking cessation counseling on prolonged abstinence from smoking and on depression, negative affect, and other symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. JAMA Psychiatry 70(5):522-533, 2013. PMID: 23536105.
- Versace F, Lam CY, Engelmann JM, Robinson JD, Minnix JA, Brown VL, Cinciripini PM. Beyond cue reactivity: blunted brain responses to pleasant stimuli predict long-term smoking abstinence. Addiction Biology 17(6):991-1000, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21967530.
- Cui Y, Robinson JD, Versace F, Lam CY, Minnix JA, Karam-Hage M, Dani JA, Kosten TR, Wetter DW, Brown VL, Cinciripini PM. Differential cigarette-related startle cue reactivity among light, moderate, and heavy smokers. Addictive Behaviors 37(8):885-9, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22571920.
- Lam CY, Robinson JD, Versace F, Minnix JA, Cui Y, Carter BL, Wetter DW, Cinciripini PM. Affective reactivity during smoking cessation of never-quitters as compared with that of abstainers, relapsers, and continuing smokers. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 20(2):139-50, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 22039752.
- Engelmann JM, Versace F, Robinson JD, Minnix JA, Lam CY, Cui Y, Brown VL, Cinciripini PM. Neural substrates of smoking cue reactivity: a meta-analysis of fMRI studies. Neuroimage 60(1):252-262, 2012. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 22206965.
- Versace F, Engelmann JM, Jackson EF, Costa VD, Robinson JD, Lam CY, Minnix JA, Brown VL, Wetter DW, Cinciripini PM. Do brain responses to emotional images and cigarette cues differ? An fMRI study in smokers. The European Journal of Neuroscience 34(12):2054-63, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 22097928.
- Versace F, Minnix JA, Robinson JD, Lam CY, Brown VL, Cinciripini PM. Brain reactivity to emotional, neutral, and cigarette-related stimuli in smokers. Addiction Biology 16(2):296-307, 2011. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 21182573.
- Lang PJ, Wangelin BC, Bradley MM, Versace F, Davenport PW, Costa VD. Threat of suffocation and defensive reflex activation. Psychophysiology 48(3):393-6, 2011. e-Pub 2010. PMID: 20667037.
- Robinson JD, Lam CY, Carter BL, Minnix JA, Cui Y, Versace F, Wetter DW, Cinciripini PM. A multimodal approach to assessing the impact of nicotine dependence, nicotine abstinence, and craving on negative affect in smokers. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 19(1):40-52, 2011. PMID: 21341922.
- Cinciripini PM, Minnix JA, Green CE, Robinson JD, Engelmann JM, Versace F, Wetter DW, Shete S, Karam-Hage M. An RCT with the combination of varenicline and bupropion for smoking cessation: clinical implications for front line use. Addiction 113(9):1673-1682. e-Pub 2018. PMID: 29679432.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Identifying topiramate's therapeutic mechanisms through motivational salience |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Neurobiological substrates of imminent smoking: a missing link in cue reactivity |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Mentor |
| Title: | Neurobehavioral assessment of reward sensitivity in young smokers |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Intrinsic reward sensitivity & smoking cessation with varenicline or patch NRT |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Bayesian method for fMRI: modeling heterogeneity in brain dysfunctions |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Neurobiological substrates of imminent smoking: a missing link in cue reactivity |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NCI |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Incentive salience and the neuropsychological underpinnings of cue-induced smoking relapse |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Endophenotypic differences in cue response may predict the ability to transition from combustible cigarette to electronic cigarette use |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Co-Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Predicting vulnerability to prescription opioid abuse using neuropsychological endophenotypes |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | A Randomized Controlled Trial of Exenatide as an Adjunct to Dual NRT for Smoking Cessation and Prevention of Post-Cessation Weight Gain |
| Funding Source: | University of Tx Health Science Center - Houston |
| Role: | Co-Investigator |
| Title: | Multi-Parametric MRI Assessment of Brain Connectivity and Spectroscopic Biomarkers in Patients with a Substance Use Disorder |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Co-Mentor |
| Title: | Resisting food temptation: how do affective and cognitive brain systems interact? |
| Funding Source: | NIH/NIDA |
| Role: | Sponsor |