Leah Doane

2009 Young Investigator Award Winner

Leah D. Doane, PhD / Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Leah Doane is currently a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. Her doctoral degree is in Human Development and Social Policy from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. Doane was a research assistant and project director of the Northwestern Sleep and Stress Study for 3 years while at Northwestern University (PI.: Emma Adam).  Her research examines the biological pathways through which social relationships can influence mental and physical health and well-being. Her research has used ecological momentary assessment methods to focus on every day emotions and processes such as social interactions and HPA axis function. While her doctoral work focused on understanding stress pathways in the adolescent and young adult years, she is now working with a sample of middle to later aged adults. Doane is currently being mentored in behavioral genetics under Kristen Jacobson at the University of Chicago. She is assisting in the analysis of the VETSA Longitudinal Twin Study of Cortisol and Aging (PI: William Kremen). Her work explores the phenotypic and genetic associations among psychopathology, daily emotions, trait neuroticism and diurnal cortisol rhythms in a sample of male twins from the Vietnam War Era.