Program director

Joan Luby, MD

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. 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 mood 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. Dr. Luby and colleagues are currently investigating the role of experience and more specifically early relationships on brain development and risk for mood disorders as well as the effects of early onset depression on brain change. Related to this, early psychotherapeutic intervention that focuses on the parent child relationship in the hopes of changing the trajectory of this early onset disorder 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. She serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Psychiatry and The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Director of Neuroscience

Deanna Barch, PhD

Deanna Barch, PhD

Professor and Chair, Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry

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

Diana Whalen, PhD

Diana Whalen, PhD

Assistant Professor of Psychiatry

Dr. Whalen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Washington University School of Medicine. She completed her PhD in Clinical-Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 and a T32 Postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University under the mentorship of Drs. Joan Luby and Deanna Barch. Dr. Whalen’s research broadly examines the complex relationships between physical and mental health in young children. Specifically, she is interested in identifying factors that contribute to the cooccurrence of mental and physical health problems in young children. She utilizes ecological momentary assessment, actigraphy, and ERPs in her work.

Staff