Education

• Iowa State University, BS
• Virginia Commonwealth University, PhD

Research Interests

• Psychiatric Genetics
• Neuroimaging Genetics
• Childhood Adversity
• Resilience
• Adolescent Suicidality
• Genetic and Environmental Factors Conferring Risk for Internalizing Conditions in Children

Research Description

My research focuses on integrating genetic and neuroimaging modalities to inform on the biological basis of risk and protective factors for developing psychiatric disorders after experiencing adversity. I use publicly available datasets such as the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study as well as collecting novel laboratory and MRI data to address these questions. My current pilot work includes investigating genetic and neurobehavioral markers in adolescents who have recently attempted suicide. This project investigates cognitive effort aversion as a transdiagnostic marker for suicide attempt.

Awards

• Lindon J. Eaves Award for Excellence in Post-Doctoral Research, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
• Post-doctoral fellowship, T32MH020030, Research Training: Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics
• Roscoe D. Hughes Fellowship for Excellence in Graduate Studies and Research in Human Genetics, Human and Molecular Genetics Department
• Pre-doctoral fellowship, T32MH020030, Research Training: Psychiatric and Statistical Genetics
• Roscoe D. Hughes Award for Excellent Progress in Graduate Studies in Human Genetics, Human and Molecular Genetics Department

Selected Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1zqT-dp_e9w57/bibliography/public/