Program director
Joan Luby, MD
Early Emotional Development Program Director
Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry
Dr. Luby is the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Child Psychiatry at Washington University. She is founder and director of the Washington University School of Medicine Early Emotional Development Program, which focuses on the study and treatment of mood disorders in preschool-aged children, early onset psychopathology and early environmental determinants of neurodevelopment and risk and resilience for psychopathology. Dr. Luby’s clinical work and research also focuses on the emotional development of young children and how deviations in this trajectory relate to risk for early onset disorders and predict their longitudinal course. Dr. Luby and colleagues have conducted the first large-scale empirical studies to establish the criteria for identifying and validating the characteristics of depression in preschoolers and developed an early psychotherapeutic intervention that proved both powerfully and durably effective. Dr. Luby and colleagues are currently investigating the role of experience and, more specifically, early psychosocial factors on brain development and risk and resilience for psychopathology and optimization of early developmental trajectories. Related to this, early psychotherapeutic interventions that focus on enhancing the parent child relationship in the hopes of optimizing developmental trajectories is a key aim of the program. Dr. Luby earned her medical degree from Wayne State University and completed her residency in psychiatry and fellowship in child psychiatry at Stanford University. She was honored with NARSAD’s Gerald L. Klerman Award for Outstanding Clinical Research in 2004 and the Washington University Faculty Achievement Award in 2015, the Ruane Award for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2020, and the Washington University School of Medicine Dean’s Medal for Research Excellence in 2025. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
Director of Neuroscience
Deanna Barch, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry
- Email: dbarch@nospam.wustl.edu
Dr. Barch is a clinical scientist whose research focuses on understanding normative patterns cognitive function and brain connectivity and the mechanisms that give rise to the challenges in behavior and cognition found in illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression, utilizing psychological, neuroimaging and computational approaches. She is Chair of the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Washington University and has been at the University since 1998. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology. She was the inaugural Dean of Faculty Development for the School of Arts and Sciences. She is Deputy Editor at Biological Psychiatry e. She is also the incoming President-elect of the Psychology Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Barch is on the scientific boards of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the One Mind Foundation, and the Stanley Foundation and a member of the NIMH Research Diagnostic Criteria Committee. Dr. Barch was on the Executive Committee of the Association for Psychological Science and the Scientific Council of the NIMH. She is a Fellow of both the Association for Psychological Science and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and a member of the Society for Experimental Psychology. She serves on a number of national society committees, including the Women’s Task Force for the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Faculty
Staff
Ashna Ramiah
Research Staff
- Email: aramiah@wustl.edu
Ashna graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A. in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology: Cognitive Neuroscience and a minor in Children’s Studies. She was an undergraduate research assistant in the Cognition and Development Lab and WAVE Lab before joining the EEDP full-time. She now works on both the GLO and NeuCorE+ studies where she conducts fMRI and EEG scans as well as clinical diagnostic interviews.
Gabi Skilling
Research Staff
- Email: g.r.skilling@wustl.edu
Gabi graduated with honors from Washington University in St. Louis with a B.A in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Anthropology. As a student, she worked as a research assistant in the EEDP and assisted in EEGS for the NOA study. While at the EEDP she completed her honors thesis with Dr. Gilbert examining how comorbid mental disorders influence ERN presentation in pediatric populations. Outside of the EEDP, she worked with Dr. Alysa Liang examining unethical prosocial behavior in the workplace and with graduate students on the Disability, Resilience, and Success Project examining resilience in internship-accredited graduate psychology programs. At the EEDP, she works on the NOA and GLO studies conducting EEGs and clinical interviews.
Becky Tillman, MA
Senior Statistical Data Analyst
- Email: tillmanb@wustl.edu
Becky received a Masters degree in statistics from the University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign in 2002. She has worked in the Washington University psychiatry department as a statistical data analyst since 2002. She is responsible for data management and statistical analysis for several of the research studies being conducted in the EEDP.
Chloe Woods
Research Staff
- Email: wchloe@wustl.edu
Chloe graduated from Warren Wilson College, a tiny, experiential learning school in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a B.S. In Environmental Science. As a student, she studied freshwater mussels and became fascinated by the scientific process and research. In the EEDP, Chloe is gratified by the opportunity to assist in furthering knowledge of children’s emotional development as a professional rater II. She works on the THRIVE and NOA studies.