Rachel Lean
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
- Phone: 314-273-0854
- Email: rachel.lean@nospam.wustl.edu
Education & Training
- Postdoctoral Research Associate: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2020
- PhD: Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2015
- MSc: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2012
- BA(Hons): University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2010
Major Awards
- Honorable Mention 2022 Gerald R. Klerman Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, 2022
- NIMH K01 Research Scientist Development Award, 2020
- NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, 2019
Research Interests
Dr. Lean’s research focuses on the neurological and socioenvironmental mechanisms underlying the development of executive dysfunction and psychiatric disorders in at-risk groups of young children, including children born very preterm and children exposed to socioeconomic adversity. Dr. Lean is also interested in the identification of modifiable socioenvironmental factors that may support brain and socioemotional development in at-risk children, with a particular interest in parenting behavior and family functioning. Additionally, she has used structural and diffusion tensor imaging analyses in her research.
Key Publications
- Lean RE, Smyser CD, Brady RG, Triplett RL, Kaplan S, Kenley JK, Shimony JS, Smyser TA, Miller JP, Barch DM, Luby JL, Warner BB, Rogers CE, (2022 10). Prenatal exposure to maternal social disadvantage and psychosocial stress and neonatal white matter connectivity at birth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 119(42): e2204135119.
Read publication »Prenatal exposure to maternal social disadvantage and psychosocial stress and neonatal white matter connectivity at birth. - Lean RE, Gerstein ED, Smyser TA, Smyser CD, Rogers CE, (2021 Nov). Socioeconomic disadvantage and parental mood/affective problems links negative parenting and executive dysfunction in children born very preterm. Dev Psychopathol. 1-16.
Read publication »Socioeconomic disadvantage and parental mood/affective problems links negative parenting and executive dysfunction in children born very preterm. - *Wheelock, M.D, *Lean, R.E., Bora, S., Melzer, T.R., Eggebrecht, A.T., Smyser, C.D., and Woodward, L.J. (2021) Functional Connectivity Network Disruption Underlies Domain Specific Impairments in Attention for Children Born Very Preterm (*co-first authorship), Cerebral Cortex, 31 (2), 1383-1394, DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa303
Read publication »Functional Connectivity Network Disruption Underlies Domain-Specific Impairments in Attention for Children Born Very Preterm - Lean, R.E., Lessov-Shlaggar, C.N., Gerstein, E.D., Smyser, T.A., Paul, R.A., Smyser, C.D., & Rogers, C.E. (2019) Maternal and Family Factors Differentiate Profiles of Psychiatric Impairments in Very Preterm Children at Age 5-Years, Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 61(2), 157-166. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13116
Read publication »Maternal and Family Factors Differentiate Profiles of Psychiatric Impairments in Very Preterm Children at Age 5-Years - Lean, R.E., Paul, R., Smyser, T.A, Smyser, C.D., & Rogers, C.E. (2018) Social Adversity and Cognitive, Language and Motor Development of Very Preterm Children from Age 2 to 5 Years, The Journal of Pediatrics, 203, 177-184. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.07.110
Read publication »Social Adversity and Cognitive, Language and Motor Development of Very Preterm Children from 2 to 5 Years of Age - Lean, R.E., Paul, R., Smyser, C. D. & Rogers, C. E. (2018) Maternal IQ Predicts IQ and Language in Very Preterm Children at Age 5 Years, Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 59(2), 50-59. DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12810
Read publication »Maternal intelligence quotient (IQ) predicts IQ and language in very preterm children at age 5 years
Funded Research Projects
NIMH K01: Investigating Links Between Dysfunctional Parenting and Infant Brain Connectivity on
Development of Effortful Control
NARSAD: Infant Brain Connectivity and the Early Development of Executive Functions: The Role of Parenting