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Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology

The faculty listed on this page are part of NU MHE-T32’s Faculty Mentors in Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology. Each Postdoctoral Fellow will need to select at least one faculty mentor from this list.

Faculty Mentors

Joshua Ewen, PhD

Chief of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics; Professor, Pediatrics (Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics)

Dr. Ewen’s research focus is on understanding the neurobiology of the cognitive differences that underlie the neurophysiology of autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. His published work and NIH funded studies employ a cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience lens, including a focus on motor control and imitation, focusing on autism and ADHD.

Faculty Profile

Molly Losh, PhD

Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences & Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD)

Dr. Losh’s research focuses on understanding the phenotypic complexity of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions, with a focus on the language phenotypes. Her lab uses family-genetic and cross-population study designs to disaggregate existing diagnostic categories into biologically meaningful traits that penetrate diagnostic boundaries and can serve as more tractable targets for identifying etiologic factors and interventions.

Faculty Profile

Leena Mithal, MD

Associate Professor, Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)

Dr. Mithal is a clinical-translational physician-scientist and pediatric infectious diseases specialist who researches perinatal microbial exposures, immune response, and health outcomes. Her research agenda spans a primary microbial focus as well as a broader perinatal exposome landscape. This framework enables multiple translational avenues aimed at developing new diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic interventions for congenital and neonatal infections, including novel diagnostic approaches for neonatal sepsis that use vital signs analysis, cord blood biomarkers, and placenta data and their impact on pediatric health and mental health.

Faculty Profile

Vijay Mittal, PhD

Chair, Department of Psychology; Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical Social Sciences (MSS), & Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Mittal’s research involves working with adolescents and young adults at risk for or exhibiting psychotic syndromes or genetic susceptibility and conducting prospective longitudinal studies of these populations to assess a variety of biopsychosocial variables that determine the likelihood of prodromal conversion. Dr. MittaI studies a range of characteristics, behaviors and neural markers that may be used to enhance identification and treatment of these individuals, while refining etiological understanding of the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders.

Faculty Profile

Elizabeth Norton, PhD

Co-Director, DevSci Neurodevelopmental Resource Core; Associate Professor, Department of Medical Social Sciences (MSS) & School of Communication

Dr. Norton is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in employing a range of developmentally sensitive tools to assess brain-behavior associations across development. She has a specific interest in characterizing heterogeneity in developmental patterns and differentiating typical vs. atypical trajectories in domains of language, reading, and mental health.

Faculty Profile

Robin Nusslock, PhD

Associate Professor, Neurology, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical Social Sciences (Determinants of Health), & Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

As a clinical neuroscientist, Dr. Nusslock’s research examines the relationship between core-brain behavior dimensions and psychiatric symptoms of depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. He uses neurophysiology and multi-model imaging methods to study the brain systems involved in regulating the PFC and emotion processing systems, as well as the role stress, brain and immune systems in mental health trajectories. 

Faculty Profile

Terri Sabol, PhD

Associate Professor, Human Development and Social Policy, School of Education and Social Policy (SESP)

Dr. Sabol’s research focuses on the individual and environmental factors that lead to healthy child development including mental health and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on schools and families. The broad goal of her research is to generate dynamic theories of change, measure complex social processes, and analyze data with advanced statistical techniques to produce innovative, functional scholarship aimed at improving the lives of young children living with economic hardship.

Faculty Profile

Stewart Shankman, PhD

Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Psychology) & Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

As a clinical neuroscientist, his research focuses on neurobehavioral mechanisms and early risk factors for internalizing psychopathologies (i.e., anxiety and depression). His program of research incorporates many methods of data acquisition/analysis, including electrophysiology, functional neuroimaging, and passive sensing data. He also has expertise in modeling mental disorder trajectories in youth.

Faculty Profile

Lauren Wakschlag, PhD

Director, Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences; Professor, Department of Medical Social Sciences (Determinants of Health), Pediatrics, & Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Wakschlag is a developmental/clinical scientist whose work focuses on neurodevelopmental characterization of early life vulnerability to, and expression of, psychopathology. Her NIMH-funded work on the “science of when to worry” paradigm she pioneered is highly aligned with the RDoC neurodevelopmental approach. This includes generating the only developmentally-sensitive, dimensional toolkit for differentiating normative variation in early irritability (transdiagnostic indicator of psychopathology risk) from atypical expressions within developmental context. In collaboration with community engaged, intervention/prevention, and implementation sciences, advances from this work have been translated into real world care. 

Faculty Profile

Adrianna Weisleder, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD)

Dr. Weisleder is a developmental psychologist with expertise in conducting research with families from varied backgrounds in lab, healthcare, and community settings and a leader in community engaged research. Her work seeks to understand and address variations in early language, cognitive, and social-emotional development across varied communities.

Faculty Profile