Carol Prescott Lab


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Carol Prescott

Carol Prescott

Professor of Psychology

Contact Information
E-mail: cprescot@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-2314
Office: SGM 934

LINKS
Personal Website

Biographical Sketch

Carol Prescott obtained B.A. and M.A. degrees in Experimental Psychology from Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Psychology with an emphasis in clinical research and quantitative methods from the University of Virginia. Her clinical internship at the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) focused on geropsychology. She then had post-doctoral training in psychiatric genetics and epidemiology at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Prescott’s work has been funded by grants from the U.S. National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. Dr. Prescott has received several awards in recognition of her research, including the Theodore Reich Prize from the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics and the Fulker Award from the Behavior Genetics Association.

Education

B.A. Psychology, Johns Hopkins University, 1984
M.A. Experimental Psychology, Johns Hopkins University, 1985
Ph.D. Psychology (Clinical Research), University of Virginia, 1991

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Professor, University of Southern California, 2005-
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2000-2005
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1995-2000

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests

The primary goal of Dr. Prescott’s research is to understand the genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in risk for alcohol dependence and other substance use disorders and the mechanisms by which this variation is translated into clinical syndromes. For example, we are examining whether genetic risk for alcoholism is mediated through drinking motives, and how genetic risk interacts with environmental stress to increase risk for alcohol dependence. Other research interests include substance use as a risk factor for other psychological and disease outcomes; treatment outcome studies of co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders of homeless adults; and gene-environment interactions in cognition and health in older age.

Research Specialties

Substance Use Disorders, Psychopathology, Behavior Genetics, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Longitudinal Data Analysis, Research Methodology

Funded Research

Contracts and Grants Awarded

Intergenerational Transmission of Alcohol Involvement (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), Susan Luczak, Carol Prescott (Co-Investigator), $2,499,999, 09/10/2010-06/30/2015
Interaction of Genes, Stress and Cognition in the Development of Alcoholism (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), Carol Prescott, NRSA award to Kelly Young-Wolff, $111,056, 2009-2012
Interactions of Genes and Childhood Adversity in the Lifetime Dynamics of Cognitive Abilities (National Institute on Aging), Carol Prescott, John Joseph McArdle, $234,921, 06/01/2009-04/30/2012
From Child Maltreatment to Adolescent Substance Abuse: Risk and Protective Factors (National Institute on Drug Abuse), Penelope Trickett, Carol Prescott (Co-Inv), $511,362, 06/01/2009-05/31/2011

Conferences and Other Presentations

Conference Presentations

"Using Project Talent twin data to estimate the range of the components of variance of high-order cognition", Behavior Genetics Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Abstract, Newport, Rhode Island, 2010-2011

Honors and Awards

USC Center for Excellence in Research, Faculty Fellow, 2007-2010
Fulker Award, Behavior Genetics Association, 2007
Theodore Reich Young Investigator Award, International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, 2004