Andrew Heath

Spencer T. Olin Professor of Psychiatry

Additional Titles & Roles

  • Associate Professor of Genetics
  • Associate Professor of Psychology
  • Director, Midwest Alcoholism Research Center

Education & Training

  • DPhil: Psychological Studies: University of Oxford, Oxford, England,

Major Awards

  • RSA Distinguished Investigator Award, 2003

Areas of Clinical Interest

Research only

Research Interests

Behavioral and psychiatric genetics, genetic epidemiology, particularly focusing on the interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors in the etiology of substance use disorder, eating disorder and obesity, and childhood emotional and behavioral disorders. Gene-mapping studies of substance use disorders. Prospective high-risk studies of pre-adolescent twins and adolescent twins/siblings and their families, and of twin pairs and their adolescent children. Studies of the gut microbiome in human obesity and metabolic dysfunction.

Formulation of models, development and implementation of methods of data analysis, and data collection to resolve the joint contributions of genetic and environmental risk factors, and their covariation and interaction, to risk of psychiatric disorder, and to behavioral variation. Dissection of genetic and non-genetic causes for the familial aggregation of risk.

Key Publications

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    Funded Research Projects

    NICHD(Key Personnel):Early Quantitative Characterization of Reciprocal Social Behavior
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):Genetics, the Adolescent Brain, and Addiction Liability: A Longitudinal Twin Study
    NIAAA(Significant Contributor):Outcomes of Recurrent DUI-Moms & Their Children
    NIMH(Significant Contributor):The Neural Meta-Structure of Psychopathology
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):A Twin Study of Food Addiction
    NIAAA(PI):Center on Women and Alcoholism
    NIDA(Key Personnel):Cannabis and Tobacco Involvement: A Twin Study
    NIAAA(Key Personnel):Age at First Drink and Alcoholism: Intersection of Genes and Environment
    NIDDK(Key Personnel):Metagenomic Studies of the Gut Microbiomes of Obese and Lean Twins
    NIAAA(PI):Gene-Environment Interplay in Alcoholism
    NIAAA(Key Personnel):Neuroanatomical Validation of EEG/ERP Endophenotypes for Alcoholism
    NIAAA(Key Personnel):Neighborhood, Family and Individual Factors in Adolescent Drinking
    NIH(Significant Contributor):Drug Use in African American Children of Sisters Discordant for Marriage-at-Birth
    NIAAA(PI):Novel Screen for Chronic Excessive Alcohol Use
    NIAAA(Significant Contributor):Alcohol and the Brain: Leveraging the Human Connectome Project
    NIAAA(Significant Contributor):Neuroanatomical Validation of ERP Endophenotypes for Alcoholism
    NIAAA(Significant Contributor):Distinctions Between Black and White Young Women in the Course of Alcohol Use
    NIDA(Significant Contributor):3/13 ABCD-USA Consortium: Twin Research Project
    NIDDK(Key Personnel):Metagenomic Studies of Gut Microbiomes of Obese and Lean Twins – Biospecimen Collection Core A
    NIAAA(PI):Biomedical Training in Alcoholism Research
    NIMH(Key Personnel):Mapping the Human Connectome: Structure, Function, and Heritability