Dana Mathews, M.D.

Biography

Dana Mathews, Ph.D., M.D., is a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Nuclear Medicine Division. Her clinical interests include positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) imaging. 

Dr. Mathews holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and biology from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. She earned a master’s degree in psychology and a doctoral degree in clinical science at Emory University in Atlanta. After earning her medical degree at UT Southwestern, she received advanced training through fellowship programs in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at State University of New York in Stony Brook, and at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. She later returned to UT Southwestern to perform residencies in neurology and nuclear medicine. 

Before joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 1993, Dr. Mathews served as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington.

At UT Southwestern, she has dedicated her time to developing nuclear imaging programs on campus, forming the first nuclear medicine service at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, and overseeing the purchase and installation of the university's first PET scanner in 2001.

Dr. Mathews focuses her research on evaluating cerebral blood flow and metabolism. She has worked alongside campus neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neuroradiologists to measure cerebral blood flow in cerebrovascular disease. More recently, she has investigated glucose metabolism and amyloid deposition in dementia and head trauma. She has co-authored nearly 50 peer-reviewed publications with the results of her studies, and has frequently been invited to present her findings at professional conferences throughout the country and around the world. 

Dr. Mathews is a member of the Radiology Residency Review Committee, the Nuclear Medicine Residency Curriculum Committee, and the Nuclear Medicine Program Evaluation Committee. Her commitment to translating radiology research into clinical practice is evidenced by her participation on the Radioactive Drug Research Committee, as well as the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's Brain Imaging Council, for which she serves as vice president.