Elaine F. Walker

Elaine Walker, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, at Emory University has made significant contributions to our understanding of major mental illnesses, particularly psychosis. She researches genetic, neurobiological, environmental and behavioral risk factors in the etiology of serious mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia and other psychoses. Her research group at Emory was one of 9 sites in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS) consortium, a multisite study focused on the predictors and mechanisms of conversion to psychosis in clinical high risk (CHR) individuals. This project has involved comprehensive characterization of the behavioral, cognitive and biological manifestations of risk for psychosis, with the goal of enhancing prediction and potential prevention of psychosis-onset. The NAPLS study is also intended to shed light on the environmental, genetic, and neurobiological mechanisms that are associated with transition to psychosis in youth at CHR.

Other research is focused on cognitive dysfunctions (CAPR – Computerized Assessment of Psychosis Risk) and enhancing the measurement of negative symptoms in youth at CHR for psychosis. Walker has also been involved in investigations of vulnerability to psychoses conferred by genetic variants, including 22q11 and 3q29 deletion syndromes, which are associated with significantly elevated risk for a broad range of psychiatric syndromes, including psychosis.

Walker was awarded a B.A. from Washington University in 1974, a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Missouri in 1979, then completed a fellowship in psychopathology research at the University of Southern California in 1980. She was appointed Assistant (1980) then Associate (1985) Professor at Cornell University. She joined the faculty of Emory University in 1986.