Our goal at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri (WUSTL) is to create a professional, safe, and engaging environment for participating students and families. We hope that they all leave feeling that they have contributed to important scientific advances.

We take the students through a pretend MRI scanner that is decorated with colorful astronomy-themed pictures. After the real scan is over they are excited to learn that they will receive prizes and see a picture of their brain!

Our excellent staff and student-friendly facilities leave families invigorated and excited to come back to see us again. We currently have 205 students who have completed the protocol through baseline, and many more are scheduled in the coming weeks.

WUSTL Team:
Bottom Left to Right: Dr. Pamela Madden-PI, Dr. Deanna Barch-PI, Amanda Crawford-Research Assistant, Deborah Koh-Research Assistant, Corinne Guilday-Research Coordinator
Top Left to Right: Caroline Fullerton-Study Team Assistant/Outreach Specialist, Jim Serati-Research Assistant, Josh Prince-Research Assistant

What’s going on in the teenage brain? St. Louis part of study aiming to find out

Principal Investigator Dr. Deanna Barch explains that the ABCD Study covers an age where “we need to understand, ‘What are the predictors of who is going to do well and who will have challenges? … We can identify resilience factors that tend to provide protection, and we can start thinking about putting those supports in place before kids are having those challenges.” Click here to read more. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/20/17)