Ben- Zion Ziv, Dr.
Background:
Dr. Ziv Ben-Zion is a clinical neuroscientist with a multidisciplinary background in biology, psychology, and neuroscience. His research focuses on understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying stress vulnerability and resilience, aiming to develop personalized treatments for stress- and anxiety-related disorders, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dr. Ben-Zion investigates behavioral, cognitive, physiological, and neural responses to naturalistic tasks in both healthy and clinical populations, utilizing advanced statistical and computational methods. His work emphasizes transparency, reproducibility, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
He earned his B.Sc. in Biology, Psychology, and Neuroscience and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Tel Aviv University, where his doctoral work (mentored by Prof. Talma Hendler) focused on identifying neural and cognitive factors predicting PTSD symptom trajectories. He completed postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine in the Decision Neuroscience Lab (Prof. Ifat Levy) and the PTSD Research & Treatment Lab (Prof. Ilan Harpaz-Rotem).
Dr. Ben-Zion has received prestigious awards, including the Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship, the ADAA Career Development Leadership Award, and the SOBP Early Career Investigator Travel Award. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as The American Journal of Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, and The Annual Review of Psychology, and has presented his work at more than 40 international conferences.
Publications:
Ben-Zion, Z., Witte, K., Jagadish, A. K., Duek, O., Harpaz-Rotem, I., et al. (2025). Assessing and Alleviating State Anxiety in Large Language Models. npj Digital Medicine, 8, 132. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-025-01512-6
Ben-Zion, Z.*, Simon, A. J.*, Rosenblatt, M., Korem, N., Duek, O., et al. (2025). Connectome-Based Prediction of PTSD Development in Recent Trauma Survivors. JAMA Network Open, 8(3):e250331. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0331
Ben-Zion, Z. & Levy, I. (2025). Representation of Anticipated Rewards and Punishments in the Human Brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 76. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-022324-042614
Ben-Zion, Z., Spiller, T. R., Keynan, J. N., Admon, R., Levy, I., et al. (2023). Are we there yet? Evaluating the evidence for neuroimaging-based biotypes of psychiatric vulnerability in the acute aftermath of trauma. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 180(2), 146-154. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.20220271
Ben-Zion, Z., Korem, N., Spiller, T. R., Duek, O., Keynan, J. N., et al. (2022). Longitudinal Volumetric Evaluation of Hippocampus and Amygdala Subregions in Recent Trauma Survivors. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(2), 657-667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01842-x
Ben-Zion, Z., Shany, O., Admon, R., Keynan, J. N., Avisdris, N., et al. (2021). Neural Responsivity to Reward versus Punishment Shortly after Trauma Predicts Long-term Development of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 7(2), 150-161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.09.001
Ben-Zion, Z.*, Zeevi, Y.*, Keynan, J. N., Admon R., Kozlovski, T., et al. (2020). Multi-Domain Potential Biomarkers for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Severity in Recent Trauma Survivors. Translational Psychiatry, 10(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-020-00898-z
Ben-Zion, Z., Artzi, M., Niry, D., Keynan, J. N., Admon R., et al. (2020). Neuroanatomical Risk Factors for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Recent Trauma Survivors. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 5(3), 311-319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.11.003
Ben-Zion, Z.*, Fine, N. B.*, Keynan, J. N., Admon R., Green N., et al. (2018). Cognitive Flexibility Predicts PTSD Symptoms: Observational and Interventional Studies. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 477. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00477
For a full list of Publications: https://campuspress.yale.edu/zivbenzion/publications/
