Social and Behavioral Development Lab

Our research bridges clinical and diversity science, quantitative psychology, genomics, neuroscience, and developmental psychopathology to study the causes of neurodevelopmental and externalizing conditions, features, and behaviors, including ADHD, autism, conduct, and substance use. Our lab mission is to better understand how diversity interacts with biology and psychosocial environments to develop more effective and personalized mental health care, particularly for children with mental health conditions. Having an extensive network of collaborators enables our lab to utilize multiple of scientific approaches – genomics, neuroimaging, machine learning, clinical – to study neurodevelopment and externalizing outcomes across diverse populations. This research is made possible with funding from NIMH, NICHD, the UW Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The lab is directed by Dr. James J. Li.

We are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Psychology and Waisman Center, the Center for Demography of Health and Aging’s Initiative in Social Genomics, and the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) international consortium.