• Associate Dean, Facilities & Information Technology
  • Professor, Psychology
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Paul J. Wellman headshot

Biography

Dr. Paul J. Wellman is a professor of psychology and a neuroscientist with specialty in behavioral and cellular neuroscience. He serves as Associate Dean for Facilities and Information Technology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Wellman joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1980 as a member of the Department of Psychology, where his research program focuses on the psychopharmacology of appetite suppressants. He has received more than $1.7 million in external research funding from the National Institutes of Health and written more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as four book chapters. He is a member of the Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience. Dr. Wellman has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in physiological psychology. He was recognized with a Texas A&M Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching in 1986. Dr. Wellman previously has served as associate dean for facilities and information technology in the College of Liberal Arts (2014-2022) as well as Head of Psychology (1993-2002).

Research Interests

  • I maintain several research areas within behavioral pharmacology. A key line of research involves the determination of the role of ghrelin (an orexigenic peptide) on nicotine and cocaine reinforcement. A second line of research involves characterizing the impact of chronic nicotine on meal pattern and body weight in male and female rats as a function of maintenance diet. A final line of research involves social influence on opiate effects in mice (with S. Eitan). My research has been funded by NIDA (collaboration with Jack Nation) and by corporate sponsors such as Thompson Medical Company and Knoll Pharmaceutical.

Certifications & Memberships

  • Institute for Neuroscience

Selected Publications

  • Emery MA, Shawn Bates ML, Wellman PJ, Eitan S. Hydrocodone is More Effective than Morphine or Oxycodone in Suppressing the Development of Burn-Induced Mechanical Allodynia. Pain Med. 2017 Mar 18.
  • Emery MA, Bates ML, Wellman PJ, Eitan S. Hydrocodone, but Neither Morphine nor Oxycodone, Is Effective in Suppressing Burn-Induced Mechanical Allodynia in the Uninjured Foot Contralateral to the Burn. J Burn Care Res. 2017 Mar 13.
  • Emery MA, Bates ML, Wellman PJ, Eitan S. Burn injury decreases the antinociceptive effects of opioids. Behav Pharmacol. 2017 Jan 27.
  • Mendez IA, Carcoba L, Wellman PJ, Cepeda-Benito A. High-fat diet meal patterns during and after continuous nicotine treatment in male rats. Exp ClinPsychopharmacol. 2016 Dec;24(6):477-484.
  • Rodriguez JA, Fehrentz JA, Martinez J, Ben Haj Salah K, Wellman PJ. The GHR-R antagonist JMV 2959 neither induces malaise nor alters the malaise property of LiCl in the adult male rat. Physiol Behav. 2018 Jan 1;183:46-48.
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