Laura Bierut

Additional Titles & Roles

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• Vice Chair for Faculty Development, Psychiatry Department
• Leader of Precision Medicine Function, Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences

Education & Training

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• Residency: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1991
• M.D.: Washington University in St Louis, 1987
• B.A.: Harvard University, 1982

Major Awards

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• Langley Award for Basic Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, 2018
• The Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease, 2014
• WUSM Distinguished Educator Postdoctoral Research Mentoring Award, 2012
• International Brain Research Organization Award,
• Washington University Book Award,
• Sidney I. Schwab Prize in Psychiatry,

Areas of Clinical Interest

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Smoking behavior, substance use disorder, genetically informed clinical care

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Research Interests

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As a physician scientist, I have led several studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study environmental and genetic contributions to smoking behaviors, addiction and other psychiatric and medical illnesses. I am an active member in the NIDA Genetics Consortium, a national group of scientists who are leading NIDA’s efforts to understand genetic causes of substance dependence. My research group conducted the initial studies which found that the a5 nicotinic receptor subunit genes on chromosome 15 and the a6ß3 nicotinic receptor subunit genes on chromosome 8 increase a smoker’s risk for nicotine dependence. In collaboration with other groups, we have since demonstrated that the same genetic variants that contribute to smoking in the chromosome 15 region also influence the development of lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We are currently exploring how to translate genetic information to guide more effective clinical care. We have ongoing studies of genetic factors and smoking cessation treatment.
Lab website: https://healthbehaviorcenter.wustl.edu

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Recent Publications

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• Trajectories of genetic risk across dimensions of alcohol use behaviors

  COGA Investigators & Spit for Science Working Group, May 2026, In: Addiction. 121, 5, p. 1153-1165 13 p.

• Large-scale blood pressure GWAS accounting for gene-depression interactions in 564,680 individuals from diverse populations

  Lee, S., Miller, C. L., Bentley, A. R., Brown, M. R., Nagarajan, P., Noordam, R., Morrison, J. L., Schwander, K., Westerman, K., Kho, M., Kraja, A. T., de Vries, P. S., Ammous, F., Aschard, H., Bartz, T. M., Do, A., Dupont, C. T., Feitosa, M. F., Gudmundsdottir, V. & Guo, X. & 129 others, Harris, S. E., Hikino, K., Huang, Z., Lefevre, C., Lyytikäinen, L. P., Milaneschi, Y., Nardone, G. G., Santin, A., Schmidt, H., Shen, B., Sofer, T., Sun, Q., Tan, Y. A., Tang, J., Thériault, S., van der Most, P. J., Ware, E. B., Weiss, S., Xing, W. Y., Yu, C., Zhao, W., Ansari, M. A. Y., Anugu, P., Attia, J. R., Bazzano, L. A., Bis, J. C., Breyer, M., Cade, B., Chen, G., Collins, S., Corley, J., Davies, G., Dörr, M., Du, J., Edwards, T. L., Faquih, T., Faul, J. D., Fohner, A. E., Fretts, A. M., Gangireddy, S., Gepner, A., Graff, M. E., Hofer, E., Homuth, G., Hood, M. M., Jie, X., Kähönen, M., Kardia, S. L. R., Karvonen-Gutierrez, C. A., Launer, L. J., Levy, D., Maheshwari, M., Martin, L. W., Matsuda, K., McNeil, J. J., Nolte, I. M., Okochi, T., Raffield, L. M., Raitakari, O. T., Risch, L., Risch, M., Roux, A. D., Ruiz-Narvaez, E. A., Russ, T. C., Saito, T., Schreiner, P. J., Scott, R. J., Shikany, J., Smith, J. A., Snieder, H., Spedicati, B., Tai, E. S., Taylor, A. M., Taylor, K. D., Tesolin, P., van Dam, R. M., Wang, R., Wenbin, W., Xie, T., Yao, J., Young, K. L., Zhang, R., Zonderman, A. B., Concas, M. P., Conen, D., Cox, S. R., Evans, M. K., Fox, E. R., de las Fuentes, L., Giri, A., Girotto, G., Grabe, H. J., Gu, C., Gudnason, V., Harlow, S. D., Holliday, E., Jost, J. B., Lacaze, P., Lee, S., Lehtimäki, T., Li, C., Liu, C. T., Morrison, A. C., North, K. E., Penninx, B. W. J. H., Peyser, P. A., Province, M. M., Psaty, B. M., Redline, S., Rosendaal, F. R., Rotimi, C. N., Rotter, J. I., Schmidt, R., Sim, X., Terao, C., Weir, D. R., Zhu, X., Franceschini, N., O’Connell, J. R., Jaquish, C. E., Wang, H., Manning, A., Munroe, P. B., Rao, D. C., Chen, H., Gauderman, W. J., Bierut, L. J., Winkler, T. W. & Fornage, M., Apr 9 2026, In: Human Genetics and Genomics Advances. 7, 2, 100566.

• The relationship between alcohol use disorder, measures of cognitive decline, and Alzheimer disease biomarkers in middle aged and older adults

  Hayibor, L. A., Anokhin, A., Fisher, S. L., Goate, A., Foroud, T. M., Schindler, S. E., Bierut, L. J. & Hartz, S. M., Apr 2026, In: Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. 50, 4, e70278.

• Mapping the genetic landscape across 14 psychiatric disorders

  Nicotine Dependence GenOmics (iNDiGO) Consortium, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Tourette Syndrome Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Substance Use Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Anxiety Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Autism Spectrum Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Bipolar Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium & Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Jan 8 2026, In: Nature. 649, 8096, p. 406-415 10 p.

• Shared genetic architecture of posttraumatic stress disorder with cardiovascular imaging, risk, and diagnoses

  Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Dec 2025, In: Nature communications. 16, 1, 5631.

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Funded Research Projects

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