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The list of programs recruiting graduate students to begin in the 2023-2024 academic year will be posted after the 2023 Annual Meeting in June. Please help develop this into a robust list by submitting your program information by clicking the button bellow.



Current Graduate Degree Training Programs in Behavior Genetics


Institution Department
Faculty
Program
Degree
Research
Program
Website
Emory University
Psychology
Rohan Palmer
Ph.D.
My research centers on understanding the persistent and transient problems leading to alcohol and other substance use disorders (SUDs). Current research in the lab include the identification of genetic and environmental factors for SUDs using twin, family, and whole-genome data, developing, evaluating, and testing the utility of multivariate approaches (e.g., hierarchical Bayesian modeling and Dimensionality Reduction) for enhancing the identification of genetic factors for complex traits, and refining clinical phenotypes and endophenotypes to enhance gene finding studies for SUDs.  Click here
           
Indiana University
Applied Health Science/School of Public Health  Patrick Quinn  PhD We study substance use and its consequences. Our research ranges across substances (from cigarettes to opioids) and across the lifespan (from prenatal drug exposure to medication treatment for ADHD in adults). We work with large-scale data from healthcare records and other sources, using twin/family designs and other epidemiologic methods to examine how substances affect behavior and health. Much of our current research is focused on pain and its treatment with opioid medications.  Click here
           
QIMR/University of Queensland Mental Health and Neuroscience  Sarah Medland  PhD (pure research non-coursework*)  We work broadly across a wide range of psychological and psychiatric conditions. We also work across many in physical health conditions and neuroimaging. We do not work on personality traits or cancer.
 
           
University of Colorado Boulder
Institute for Behavioral Genetics
Naomi Friedman
 Ph.D. Cognition, executive functions, neuroimaging, psychopathology, substance use. Click here 
           
University of Minnesota
Psychology
Scott Vrieze   Ph.D. Nature and originals of personality, psychopathology, and addiction. We investigate such issues using a 30-year longitudinal study of ~5000 twins, siblings, and adoptees, as well as international genetic association studies.  Click here 
           
University of Minnesota
Institute of Child Development
Glenn Roisman  Ph.D.
My scholarly interests concern the legacy of early relationship experiences as a foundation for psychological, interpersonal, physical, and cognitive health across the lifespan. This work is multi-informant and multi-method, employing self-report, observational, psychophysiological, and interview-based methods with individuals and couples. My goal is to provide insight into the childhood experiences and resources that scaffold adjustment in the years of maturity, with a particular focus on prospective assessment of individuals’ experiences within the normative range (e.g., direct observations of parental sensitive-responsiveness and romantic interactions) as well as atypical early care (e.g., objective reports of abuse). 
           
University of Southern California                 
Psychology
Christopher Beam
Ph.D.
Research in the Beam lab focuses on using longitudinal twin studies to understand the social dynamics of the genetic expression of traits and behaviors across the lifespan. Phenotypic outcomes range from infant attachment, temperament, cognitive development, personality development, loneliness, depressive symptomatology, cognitive aging, and cognitive impairment (e.g., Alzheimer's disease). Current work in the lab is oriented toward collecting and analyzing genetic and DNA methylation data from middle-aged twins in the Louisville Twin Study.
Click here 
           
University of Waterloo
Psychology
Sara Hart
Ph.D.
Most of my work to date has focused on using twin methods to understand the "nature" and "nurture" of child development. I also spend a lot of time trying to understand the direct role of environments around children, controlling for genetic predispositions. I currently have a grant to create a national twin project, NatPAT, to examine the genetic and environmental influences on the co-development of reading and math skills through elementary school. I have a new grant to look at the impacts of COVID-19 on those twins reading and math development. I also have a new grant looking at genomic predictors of response to a reading intervention.  Click here 
           
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam  Genes in Behaviour and Health  Meike Bartels  M.A. The two-year Research Master’s programme will equip you with the knowledge and understanding of the relevant research methods to design and carry out high-quality research within the field of behaviour/molecular genetics and genetic epidemiology.
Click here
           
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam  Clinical Developmental Psychology  Tinca Polderman  Ph.D.
We look for a student interested in genetic research in Autism, and in gender differences in the prevalence and course of Autism in particular.   
           
Wake Forest University  Psychology
S. Mason Garrison
 M.A. My research can be described as the evaluation of genetically-informed designs for psychology and their application to understanding health inequity. My recent work has centered around diversity science and extending behavioral genetic methods to big data. Broadly speaking, I explore how individual differences impact the broader relationship between health and socioeconomic status (SES), using non-twin models and preexisting data. My methodological work focuses on developing and improving genetically-informed designs, such as classic behavior genetic models, and discordant kin models, and pedigree models.
Click here 
           
           

*In Australia a PhD is a pure research degree with no course work. Students are expected to gain skills in all aspects of research including study design, ethics and governance, grant writing and science communication, data collection, analysis and manuscript preparation. Students must be willing and able to travel internationally. The Australian academic year begins in January, students can start in January or July.