Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD

Address:
The Karl and Linda Rickels Professor
Director, Neurodevelopment and Psychosis Section
Department of Psychiatry
Professor Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology & Radiology
Sr. Vice Chair for Research and Penn-CHOP Research Integration
Co-Director, Penn Translational Neuroscience Center
Director, Lifespan Brain Institute,
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine

“Approaches to Understanding G X E Interactions Related to Brain–Behavior Development and Psychopathology”

The presentation will summarize current efforts that examine neurodevelopmental disorders with associated psychopathology, applying common and rare variants approaches. There are multiple challenges in integrating genomics, neurobiology and environmental factors that impact mental health outcome. Recognizing the complexity and potential steps towards multi-faceted studies of cognitive and socioemotional development will be illustrated. The presentation will include findings from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, other genomic consortia and work on copy number variants that confer increase risk for mental illness.

Dr. Raquel Gur is the Karl and Linda Rickels Professor of Psychiatry and leads the Neurodevelopment & Psychosis Section. She is Senior Vice Chair for Research and Penn-CHOP Research Integration, Co-Director of the Penn Translational Neuroscience Center and, Director of the Lifespan Brain Institute at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She holds secondary professorial appointments in the Departments of Neurology and Radiology.

Her combined training in Psychology, Neurology and Psychiatry has provided the tools to pursue an academic career working with basic and clinical neuroscientists to advance the understanding of psychosis and neurodevelopmental disorders. In directing these research endeavors, she has interacted with scientists of diverse backgrounds, conducted collaborative interdisciplinary research, mentored junior faculty and trainees, and has come to know many patients and their families.

She is a member and has served in multiple organizations including the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the NIMH Council and the American Psychiatric Association task forces including the DSM-5 Psychosis work group. She is Past President of both the Society of Biological Psychiatry and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. NIMH has supported her research efforts and she has over 600 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Reading List

Alexander-Bloch, A., Huguet, G., Schultz, L. M., Huffnagle, N., Jacquemont, S., Seidlitz, J., Saci, Z., Moore, T. M., Bethlehem, R. A., Mollon, J., Knowles, E. K., Raznahan, A., Merikangas, A., Chaiyachati, B. H., Raman, H., Schmitt, J. E., Barzilay, R., Calkins, M. E., Shinohara, R. T., … Glessner, J. (2022). Copy number variant risk scores associated with cognition, psychopathology, and brain structure in youths in the Philadelphia neurodevelopmental cohort. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(7), 699. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1017

Gur, R E, Yi, J. J., McDonald-McGinn, D. M., Tang, S. X., Calkins, M. E., Whinna, D., Souders, M. C., Savitt, A., Zackai, E. H., Moberg, P. J., Emanuel, B. S., & Gur, R. C. (2014). Neurocognitive development in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: Comparison with youth having developmental delay and medical comorbidities. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(11), 1205–1211. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2013.189

Gur, R. C., Butler, E. R., Moore, T. M., Rosen, A. F., Ruparel, K., Satterthwaite, T. D., Roalf, D. R., Gennatas, E. D., Bilker, W. B., Shinohara, R. T., Port, A., Elliott, M. A., Verma, R., Davatzikos, C., Wolf, D. H., Detre, J. A., & Gur, R. E. (2020). Structural and functional brain parameters related to cognitive performance across development: Replication and extension of the Parieto-frontal integration theory in a single sample. Cerebral Cortex, 31(3), 1444–1463. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhaa282

Gur, Raquel E., Loughead, J., Kohler, C. G., Elliott, M. A., Lesko, K., Ruparel, K., Wolf, D. H., Bilker, W. B., & Gur, R. C. (2007). Limbic activation associated with misidentification of fearful faces and flat affect in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(12), 1356. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.64.12.1356

Gur, Raquel E., Moore, T. M., Rosen, A. F., Barzilay, R., Roalf, D. R., Calkins, M. E., Ruparel, K., Scott, J. C., Almasy, L., Satterthwaite, T. D., Shinohara, R. T., & Gur, R. C. (2019). Burden of environmental adversity associated with psychopathology, maturation, and brain behavior parameters in youths.oi_190027 JAMA Psychiatry, 76(9), 966. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.0943