Kelly Botteron

Kelly Botteron

Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology

Education & Training

  • Fellowship: Child Psychiatry: Washington University, St. Louis, MO at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, 1993
  • Residency: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1991
  • MD: University Of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, MO, 1988
  • BA: Psychology: University of Kansas, 1984

Major Awards

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; Executive Office of the President of the United States, 2001
  • Peer selected for inclusion in St. Louis’s Best Doctors, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
  • Selected by NIH program staff to speak at the annual K Awardee meeting as a mentor, 2001
  • Betty Wahlstedt Memorial Scholarship – for outstanding achievement and academic promise in Anthropology, Psychology or Sociology, 1984
  • Kansas State University Dean’s Scholar Scholarship, 1980

Areas of Clinical Interest

Child and adolescent psychiatry, early onset depression, autism, pervasive developmental disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette’s disorder, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, neuropsychiatry

Research Interests

My research investigates structural brain differences in children and adolescents with affective disorders, attention deficit disorder and autism. Including examination of structural MRI differences in discordant twin populations. We are involved in a longitudinal study to characterize very early brain development with MRI in infants at risk for developing autism and infants with Fragile X and Down Syndrome. In addition, in order to better understand structural abnormalities which we and others are demonstrating in children with psychiatric disorders, we are seeking to better characterize the progress of normal structural development and associated cognitive & behavioral development, by MRI, in healthy control populations. This research is done in collaboration with Robert McKinstry, M.D., Ph.D (Radiology), John R. Pruett, M.D., Ph.D. (Psychiatry), Natasha Marrus M.D., Ph.D. (Psychiatry), Josh Simony M.D. (Radiology) John N. Constantino, MD (Psychiatry, Pediatrics), Steve Petersen PhD (Neurology, Radiology) Alex Todorov, Ph.D. (Psychiatry), Deanna Barch, Ph.D. (Psychology); and David Van Essen, Ph.D. (Anatomy).

Secondary to ongoing neurodevelopmental changes, image analysis methodologies need specific validation and potential modifications for use in child populations. We are involved with Dr. Alan Evans (Montreal Neurological Institute) and Dr. Michael Miller and Dr. Tilak Ratnanather’s lab (Johns Hopkins University) on the application of newer image analysis techniques, including automated 3-D, high resolution, warping atlases for child and adolescent populations.

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Key Publications

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    Funded Research Projects

    NICHD(PI):A Longitudinal MRI Study Characterizing Very Early Brain Development in Infants with Down Syndrome
    Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation(PI):Longitudinal EEG Study of Infants at Risk for Autism: Pilot and Network Building
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):Washington University Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
    NIEHS(Significant Contributor):Investigating Air Pollution Effects on the Developing Brain and ASD
    NIBIB(Key Personnel):3D Shape Analysis for Computational Anatomy
    Autism Speaks(Significant Contributor):A Longitudinal EEG Study of Infants at Risk for Autism: Network Capacity Building (Phase II)
    John Merck Fund(PI):Multimodal MR Imaging of Cerebral Development in Down’s Syndrome
    Autism Speaks(Significant Contributor):IBIS-EARLI Collaboration: Collaboration Risk and Outcome Scientific Study (CROSS)
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):Characterizing the Brain and Behavioral Phenotype of School-Aged Children with Down Syndrome
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):Brain and Behavior Study of Autism from Infancy through School Age
    NICHD(Significant Contributor):Pre-symptomatic Prediction of Autism
    John Merck Fund(PI):Multimodal MR Imaging of Cerebral Development in Down’s Syndrome
    NIMH(Significant Contributor):Development and Neural Mechanisms of Repetitive Behavior and Sensory Responsitivity in Autism
    NIMH(Significant Contributor):MRI Based Presymptomatic Prediction of ASD