Ian H. Gotlib
Dr. Ian H. Gotlib is the Marjorie Mhoon Fair Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology (SNAP) Laboratory at Stanford University. From 2005-2010, Dr. Gotlib served as Senior Associate Dean for the Social Sciences, and from 2012-2018 he served as Chair of the Psychology Department. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1981 from the University of Waterloo.
In his research, Dr. Gotlib examines psychobiological factors that place children, adolescents, and adults at risk for developing depression and engaging in suicidal behaviors, as well as processes that are protective in this context. He examines neural, cognitive, social, endocrinological, immunological, and genetic and epigenetic factors in depressed individuals and applies findings from these investigations to the study of predictors of depression in children and adolescents at risk for this disorder. Dr. Gotlib is also examining the differential effects of early life stress and exposure to environmental toxins on trajectories of neurodevelopment in boys and girls through puberty to explain the increased prevalence of depression and suicidal behaviors in girls in adolescence and has extended this work to the study of brain function and structure, endocrine function, and behaviors in neonates and infants being raised in suboptimal environments. Dr. Gotlib has been documenting the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescents’ mental health and brain development, as well as the effects of environmental hazards and toxins on brain development and metrics of biological aging. His research is supported largely by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Gotlib has received the Joseph Zubin Award for lifetime research contributions to the understanding of psychopathology, the NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award, the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution, the APS Distinguished Scientist Award, and a MERIT award from NIMH.