April 24, 2025 Webinar
Design and Analysis of the HEALthy Brain Child Development (HBCD) Study
Wesley Thompson, PhD
Abstract:
The HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study represents a pioneering nationwide effort aimed at comprehensively mapping early human brain and behavioral development from prenatal stages through childhood. Recognizing the rapid neurodevelopmental processes occurring during infancy-marked by dramatic brain growth, synaptogenesis, pruning, and myelination-the HBCD study strategically collects extensive longitudinal data across biological, psychological, and environmental domains. HBCD is recruiting a large, socio-demographically diverse sample of over 7,000 pregnant individuals and their infants, including targeted subgroups experiencing prenatal substance exposure and socioeconomic adversity. The HBCD employs sophisticated multimodal methodologies, including neuroimaging (MRI, EEG), biospecimen collection, wearable sensor data, and detailed developmental assessments, to identify biomarkers of early risk and resilience factors. Its adaptive recruitment strategy and statistical design enable robust causal inference regarding the impact of prenatal substance exposure, maternal psychosocial stress, and early caregiving environments on child outcomes. Preliminary analyses indicate subtle but meaningful associations between prenatal exposures and neonatal neurodevelopmental indicators, underscoring the critical influence of early-life experiences.
Short Bio:
Dr. Wesley K. Thompson applies of Bayesian hierarchical and mixture models to complex, multivariate data in psychiatry, neuroimaging, and genetics. After earning his Ph.D. in Statistics from Rutgers University in 2003, focusing on longitudinal data analysis, he held academic positions at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, San Diego. In 2022, Dr. Thompson joined the Laureate Institute for Brain Research as a Principal Investigator and Co-Director of the Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics. His research encompasses developing statistical methods for analyzing neurodevelopmental trajectories, improving replication and prediction in genome-wide association studies, and elucidating the genetic and environmental factors influencing mental health across the lifespan.