Episode #108 High Truths on Drugs and Addiction with Dr. David Baranger on Mental Health Burden with Prenatal Cannabis Use

A recent publication in JAMA Pediatrics shows that mental health burdens are associated with prenatal cannabis exposure that persists from childhood to early adolescence. These are results from the Longitudinal ABCD (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) study.

David Baranger, PhD

I am a Neuroscientist and Postdoc at Washington University in St. Louis. My primary interest is in understanding how neurodevelopment mediates the effects of genetics and stress on the emergence of psychopathology, particularly substance use and depressive disorders. My research also includes work identifying replicable and reliable neural correlates of psychopathology, as well as work studying factors that influence the measurement of common neuroimaging metrics.

As a postdoc I have worked with Dr. Arpana Agrawal, Dr. Anna Manelis, and Dr. Erika Forbes. This work has focused on studying the reliability of neuroimaging measures of reward, identifying novel structural (cortical myelin) correlates of depression, and studying the association of depression with the neurodevelopment of reward function. My current work seeks to understand how genomic risk for substance use and depression influences neurodevelopment and the emergence of psychopathology in developing samples. 

I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at Washington University in St Louis, where I worked with Dr. Ryan Bogdan and Dr. Deanna Barch. My dissertation was on the use of neural biomarkers to disentangle the causes and downstream consequences of alcohol use.

Outside of work you can find me playing with my cats, rock climbing, backpacking, and at indie/electronic shows.