JENNIFER STEWART

The Stewart Laboratory

Our Research Approach

Dr. Stewart’s research employs subjective reports (questionnaires and clinical interviews), behavioral methods, electroencephalography (EEG), event-related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how brain patterns linked to cognition, emotion, and their interaction intersect with individual differences in substance use, depression, and anxiety disorders. People who are suffering from drug addictions, depression and/or anxiety often have difficulties processing emotions and making decisions that are evident in patterns of brain activity and behavior.

CONTACT DR. STEWART

Research Program Highlights

Main Questions

(1) Can we identify brain/behavioral markers of risk for future addiction in young adults who have not yet transitioned to chronic mental health problems?

(2) In individuals experiencing chronic addiction, can we identify brain/behavioral markers of short-term and long-term abstinence and recovery?

(3) Once viable brain/behavioral markers are identified, these can be used in clinical prevention and early intervention efforts.

The PASO Study

Visit the PASO Study website to learn more about Dr. Stewart's collaborative research on "Plasticity of Aversive Salience in Opioid Use Disorder" (PASO).

The PASO study is a five-year project funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to better understand the process of early recovery from opioid addiction (the first three months after entering treatment).

The study partners with treatment programs at 12&12, Inc. and Women in Recovery.

Scientific Background

Dr. Stewart earned a B.S. in Psychology from University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1998, where she worked with Dr. Brett Clementz on EEG and eye-tracking studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Following further EEG and ERP training with Dr. John Polich at the Scripps Research Institute, Dr. Stewart completed her M.A. (2005) and Ph.D. (2008) in Clinical Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign working with Drs. Greg Miller and Wendy Heller. Her graduate work used EEG, ERP, and fMRI methods to investigate patterns of functional brain asymmetry as a function of approach- versus withdrawal-related anger expression styles (anger-out versus anger-in), taking patterns of comorbid depression and anxiety into account. In her postdoctoral studies, Dr. Stewart evaluated the viability of brain asymmetry as a biomarker of depression risk with Dr. John Allen at the University of Arizona and investigated potential markers of stimulant addiction risk and relapse with Dr. Martin Paulus at UCSD.

Starting in 2014, Dr. Stewart spent four years as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the City University of New York (CUNY Queens College/The Graduate Center) where she served as Training Area Coordinator for their APA-accredited Clinical Program. While at CUNY, she supervised undergraduate and graduate students on EEG/ERP data collection/analysis for studies evaluating biomarkers of depression risk and heavy marijuana use in college students. She taught courses on Psychopathology, Introduction to Clinical Psychology, Multivariate Statistics, Clinical Interviewing, and Neuropsychological Assessment.

In the past decade, Dr. Stewart has assisted in mentoring and training undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and visiting scientists on clinical assessment measures as well as EEG, ERP, and fMRI methodology, data collection/analysis, manuscript writing, talks, poster presentations, and grant applications. She is enthusiastic about science and hopes to empower students with the tools to become successful researchers.

Dr. Stewart joined LIBR in July 2018. She has coauthored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Her current research examines parallels between young adults at risk for transition to future substance use disorders and individuals suffering from chronic substance use disorders within the context of: (1) decision making; (2) emotional responding/regulation; and (3) interoception (the processing of bodily signals).