Antisocial behavior (ASB) is a common burden that many people face today. ASB includes a range of inappropriate behaviors such as aggression, hostility, theft, and violent felonies. Recent analysis comparing genome wide association data sets from multiple studies have identified three promising gene locations that may potentially contribute to ASB. This finding offers substantial information to help identify possible prevention and treatment methods, which would not only benefit the individual, but also the community as a whole.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a widely popular and burdensome disorder that many children and some adults face today. ADHD is highly associated with an increased risk of negative effects such as injuries, traffic accidents, substance abuse, criminality, unemployment, and suicide. Recent analysis of genome-wide association studies identified 12 possible independent gene locations associated with ADHD. This finding offers a greater understanding of the causal effects of ADHD, which can be used to develop future prevention and treatment methods.
Brain disorders are highly heritable and are often crippling. They generally share the same symptoms although psychiatric disorders display higher overlap while neurological disorders appear to be more distinct from one another. Common genetic variation is an important source of risk for brain disorders since multiple brain disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, can be highly correlated with one another. That is, one variation of a gene can stimulate multiple outcomes. Recent analysis of genome-wide association studies have shown that genetic variation is a significant variable in developing brain disorders. These analyses can help further our knowledge regarding genetic associations with brain disorders and motivate further development of prevention and treatment methods
I did my undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies at Cornell University, graduating in 1982. Following graduation, I attended graduate school in clinical psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and earned my Ph.D. in 1988.
Holly is an advanced doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at Emory University in the Waldman Lab. Her current research focuses on childhood psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on externalizing disorders, aggression, and antisocial behavior. She uses both phenotypic and genetic analytic methods to study the structure and etiology of these disorders. Current and previous projects have focused on the structure of psychopathology at the genomic level, the nomological network of psychopathic traits in youth, genetic etiology of aggression, and the overlapping nature of psychopathology and personality traits.