Dr. Casey has been a pioneer in novel uses of brain imaging to understand childhood disorders, using imaging to develop fundamental models of typical and atypical brain development. Her research focuses on the development of the brain circuitry involved in learning and behavior regulation and how disruptions in these brain systems can give rise to a number of disorders in children. She is identifying genetic and environmental factors that contribute to the risk for disorders developing in childhood and learning how these factors can vary over the course of development. Her recent discoveries of the biological factors related to vulnerability and resilience to mental illness during the early postnatal and adolescence periods—sensitive windows of development—have important implications for the timing and development of new interventions and treatments.

Dr. Casey joined Weill Cornell Medical College in 1999 after teaching as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh for five years.