I study how early-life drug exposure shapes the developing brain, using machine learning and neuroimaging to predict psychiatric and substance use outcomes before illness takes hold.
I am a Kirschstein-NRSA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. I completed my PhD in Neuroscience at UCLA with Dr. Carrie Bearden, supported by an NIH F31 fellowship, where my dissertation, "From Synapse to Syndrome: Substance Use, Psychosis, and the Neural Architecture of Risk", integrated neuroimaging, clinical, and computational approaches to predict substance use and psychosis outcomes in over 11,000 participants. Before that, I was a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the NIH studying the neural correlates of pain and expectation, and an undergraduate researcher at Boston University working on EEG and brain stimulation.
My current work characterizes female-specific windows of cannabis-related neurodevelopmental risk, from prenatal exposure effects on infant brain development (HBCD Study) to pubertal hormone–cannabis interactions shaping psychiatric risk in girls.
Outside the lab, I hold a B.A. minor in Japanese Language and Culture and speak Japanese at a professional working level.
Establishing the neurodevelopmental pathways linking cannabis exposure during sensitive windows to psychosis, including among the first evidence tying prenatal exposure to a specific neural mechanism of psychotic-like experiences in youth, a comprehensive mechanistic review, and a clinically translated harm reduction framework for adolescents at high risk.
Building machine learning pipelines that integrate neuroimaging, clinical, and environmental data to predict which youth are at greatest risk for hazardous substance use, psychosis-spectrum symptoms, and their co-occurrence, and applying entropy measures to characterize neural complexity in early psychosis.
Identifying sex-differentiated inflammatory profiles in carriers of 22q11.2 copy number variants, and characterizing substance use in youth at genetic and clinical high risk for psychosis, the first exploration of substance use risk factors in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.
First evidence that female participants are more reliable than males on all pain sensitivity measures, refuting assumptions historically used to exclude women from pain research; studies of how provider appearance and social perception shape pain and treatment expectations.
2026–present · Boston, MA
NIH Kirschstein-NRSA T32 Fellow in Neurodevelopment. Integrating HBCD and ABCD Study data to characterize how early-life substance exposure shapes neurodevelopment and psychiatric risk, with a focus on female-specific windows of vulnerability.
2020–2026 · Laboratory of Dr. Carrie Bearden · NIH F31 Fellow
Developed gradient-boosted and deep learning models predicting substance use and psychosis outcomes from multimodal data in 11,000+ participants; characterized neural, behavioral, and inflammatory markers of risk using resting-state and task fMRI, structural imaging, and tools such as Neuromaps. Led a team of five trainees and built shared analysis pipelines. Six first-author papers spanning empirical work and review.
2018–2020 · Section on Affective Neuroscience and Pain (NIMH/NIDA/NCCIH) · Laboratory of Dr. Lauren Atlas
Conducted imaging and behavioral testing for two fMRI studies on the neural correlates of pain perception, expectation, and substance use; designed and programmed five sub-studies on cognition and expectancy in Matlab; built machine learning models predicting individual pain responses from behavioral and physiological factors.
2016–2018 · Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory; Child Experience & Cortisol Laboratory
Completed an honors thesis on oscillatory dynamics in feedback-based learning using EEG and transcranial direct current stimulation; initiated a sub-study linking childhood maltreatment and eating disorder risk that led to a co-authored publication. B.A. in Psychology, minor in Japanese Language and Culture, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.
First-author and selected co-authored publications. Full record on Google Scholar and ORCID.
Amir C, Walsh C, Wang H, Ghahremani D, Chang S, Ho T, Uddin L, Cooper Z, Rissman J, Bearden C. Predicting and characterizing substance use and psychosis outcomes in adolescence using neuroimaging, clinical, and demographic factors. Under review, npj Mental Health. preprint
Amir C, Cooper ZD, Bearden CE. Mechanisms underlying the link between early cannabis exposure and psychosis. Under review, Trends in Neurosciences.
Amir C, Wang H, Karlsgodt K, Bearden C, Luppi A. Uncovering neural complexity in early psychosis: insights from entropy measures. In preparation.
Fung H, O'Hora KP, Boen R, Wang HR, Amir C, Schleifer CH, et al., Bearden CE. Convergent and divergent cerebellar alterations in 22q11.2 copy number variants. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science. find paper
Mummaneni A, Amir C, Allen NB, Ho TC. Connectome-based predictive models optimized for sleep differentiate patients with depression from psychiatrically healthy controls. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. doi
Amir C, Ghahremani DG, Chang SE, Cooper ZD, Bearden CE. Altered neurobehavioral reward response predicts psychotic-like experiences in youth exposed to cannabis prenatally. Biological Psychiatry. full text
Necka EA, Akintola T, Yu Q, Amir C, Oretsky O, Atlas LY. Isolating brain mechanisms of expectancy effects on pain: cue-based stimulus expectancies versus placebo-based treatment expectancies. The Journal of Neuroscience. find paper
Schleifer C, Chang S, Amir C, O'Hora K, Fung H, et al., Bearden CE. Unique functional neuroimaging signatures of genetic versus clinical high risk for psychosis. Biological Psychiatry. doi
Amir C, O'Hora K, Chiem E, Schleifer C, Grigoryan V, Kushan-Wells L, Chiang J, Cole S, Irwin M, Bearden CE. Differential inflammatory profiles in carriers of reciprocal 22q11.2 copy number variants. Psychoneuroendocrinology. doi
Kennedy L, Addington J, Amir C, Bearden CE, Cannon TD, et al., Cadenhead KS. Occasional cannabis use is associated with higher premorbid functioning and IQ in youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis: parallel findings to psychosis cohorts. Schizophrenia Research. find paper
Amir CM, Kapler S, Hoftman GD, Kushan L, Zinberg J, et al., Bearden CE. Neurobehavioral risk factors influence prevalence and severity of hazardous substance use in youth at genetic and clinical high risk for psychosis. Frontiers in Psychiatry. doi
Kapler S, Avery L, Hoftman G, Amir C, Kushan L, Cooper Z, Bearden CE. Assessing evidence supporting cannabis harm reduction practices for adolescents at clinical high risk for psychosis: a review and clinical implementation tool. Psychological Medicine. find paper
Dildine T, Amir C, Parsons J, Atlas LY. How pain-related facial expressions are evaluated in relation to gender, race, and emotion. Affective Science. doi
Amir C, Rose-McCandlish M, Weger R, Dildine T, Mischkowski D, Necka E, Lee I, Wager T, Pine D, Atlas L. Test-retest reliability of an adaptive thermal pain calibration procedure in healthy volunteers. The Journal of Pain (2022). doi
Necka EA, Amir C, Dildine T, Atlas LY. Expectations about pain and analgesic treatment are shaped by medical providers' facial appearances. Social Science & Medicine (2021). doi
Mercurio AE, Hong F, Amir C, Tarullo A, Samkavitz A, Ashy M, Malley-Morrison K. Relationships among childhood maltreatment, limbic system dysfunction, and eating disorders in college women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2020). find paper
NIDA Cannabis Science Interest Group, Washington, DC (2026). Cannabis exposure and psychosis risk across development. Invited talk.
Society of Biological Psychiatry (2026). Cannabis and mental health across development: a translational perspective. Symposium chair.
Yale University (2026). Drug exposures and psychosis risk across development. Invited talk.
Harvard Medical School (2026). Drug exposures and psychosis risk across development. Invited talk.
McLean Hospital (2026). Drug exposures and psychosis risk across development. Invited talk.
MGH Center for Addiction Medicine Grand Rounds (2025). Drug exposures and psychosis risk across development.
Society of Biological Psychiatry Pre-conference Meeting, University of Toronto (2025). The link between substance exposure and psychosis across development.
College on Problems of Drug Dependence (2025). Predicting and characterizing substance use and psychosis outcomes in adolescence.
ABCD All-Site Meeting, UCLA (2025). The link between substance exposure and psychosis across development.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2024). Prosocial behavior moderates the relationship between psychotic-like experiences and elevated substance use in the ABCD Study.
USC Institute for Addiction Science (2024). Altered neurobehavioral reward response predicts psychotic-like experiences in youth exposed to cannabis prenatally.
UCLA Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoids (2024). The role of prenatal cannabis exposure in reward-related neural circuitry and psychotic-like experiences in youth.
NIH Kirschstein-NRSA T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neurodevelopment ($168,000) 2026–present
NIH Kirschstein-NRSA F31 Predoctoral Fellowship, National Institute on Drug Abuse ($259,296) 2022–2026
NIH Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award ($104,000) 2018–2020
Society for Science STEM Action Grant ($5,000) 2024
NSPN LUV Grant ($2,500) 2023
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Awards, three competitive awards, Boston University ($14,250) 2016–2018
Eva Kavan Prize for Excellence in Research on the Brain, UCLA 2026
Travel Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2026
Addiction NeuroBurst Travel Award, College on Problems of Drug Dependence 2025
Schleifer Professional Development Travel Award, Society of Biological Psychiatry 2025
Fellowship, Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2022–2023
Trainee Professional Development Award, Society for Neuroscience 2021
Diversity, Inclusion, and Outreach Award, NIH NCCIH 2021
Building Bridges Award, NIH NIDCR 2019
College of Arts and Sciences College Award, Boston University 2018
Phi Beta Kappa; B.A. summa cum laude with Honors in Psychology 2018
Co-designed and delivered "Cannabis and Cannabinoids: From Neuropharmacology to Public Policy," an undergraduate and graduate course bridging neuroscience, psychiatry, and policy, co-developing lectures, assignments, and assessments.
Developed and taught modules on prenatal cannabis exposure.
Supervised and mentored four undergraduate researchers and one post-graduate student at UCLA, guiding experimental execution, data analysis, and professional development.
Co-designed and taught a critical media literacy course for 5th and 7th graders in Dorchester, MA.
Journal of Neuroscience · American Journal of Psychiatry · Psychological Medicine · Addiction · Schizophrenia Research · Journal of Pain
Cultivating Early Laboratory Learning: expanding access to hands-on research training for early-career scientists.
Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Advocacy group at the National Institutes of Health.
Assisted in casework for at-risk and low-income veterans; received mental health advocacy training from the Cambridge Multi-Service Center.
Led a 501(c)(3) neuroscience journalism and science communication nonprofit, growing revenue by over 1900% through grants and sponsorships and expanding global readership through a website translation program. As Contributing Editor (2021–2024), published multiple science communication pieces, including the site's #2 all-time most-read article, "How Weightlifting Gets the Brain in Shape."
My doctoral research on prenatal cannabis exposure was featured in Scientific American.
Winner of Sigma Xi's 2022 STEM policy paper competition for "To Strengthen the American Workforce, Empower Workers." Undergraduate literary piece on pain structures in Tanizaki's writings selected as the leading article for the inaugural issue of The Alexandria (2018).
Or reach me at carolyn.amir@childrens.harvard.edu.