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
Ph.D. Psychology (Clinical Research), University of Virginia, 1991
M.A. Experimental Psychology, Johns Hopkins University, 1985
B.A. Psychology, Johns Hopkins University, 1984
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
Cognition,
Behavior Genetics,
Psychiatric Epidemiology,
Substance Use Disorders,
Psychopathology,
Longitudinal Data Analysis, Research Methodology
Funded Research
Contracts and Grants Awarded
Assessing and Improving Measures of Cognition in the HRS (NIA), John J. McArdle, Carol Prescott (Co-Investigator), $5,732,533, 05/01/2011-04/30/2016
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
Real-Time Assessment of Alcohol Use Across ALDH2 Genotypes (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism), Susan Luczak, Carol Prescott (Co-Inv); 5% effort, $274,000, 06/01/2009-09/30/2012
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
Proposals Submitted
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Funded, Susan Luczak, Carol Prescott (Co-Inv) 5% effort, $2,499,999, 2009-2010
National Institute on Aging, Funded, Margaret Gatz, $99,000, 06/2010
Conferences and Other Presentations
Conference Presentations
"Applying Project TALENT sibling and classmate data to evaluate community and family influences on cognitive abilities.", Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology, Talk/Oral Presentation, Vancouver, BC, 10/2012
"Does the maternal immunity hypothesis explain individual differences in cognition?", Behavior Genetics Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Edinburgh, Scotland, 07/2012
"Project TALENT Twin Data", Gerontological Society of America, Talk/Oral Presentation, Refereed Boston, MA, 11/2011
"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, 07/2011
"Academic performance and alcohol use in high school: Longitudinal associations and genetic environmental contributions in male twins", Behavior Genetics Association, Poster, Refereed Minneapolis, MN, 06/2009
"Gender differences in mediation of genetic risk for alcohol dependence by drinking motives", Research Society on Alcoholism, Talk/Oral Presentation, San Diego, CA, Invited, 06/2009
Other Presentations
"Genetic epidemiology of substance use disorders", Short Course on the Genetics of Addiction, Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbour, ME, 08/2011
"Twin Studies of Addictions", Short Course on Genetics of Addictions, Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbour ME, 08/2010
"Using data mining to explore genetic heterogeneity in risk for alcohol dependence", Workshop on Exploratory Data Mining for Understanding Risk, Missillac, France, 07/2010
"Using genetically informative samples to study etiology & heterogeneity in substance use disorders. ", Invited Talk, Research Institute on Addictions, State University at Buffalo, NY, 05/2010
Honors and Awards
Elected President, Behavior Genetics Association, 7/2012-
Fulker Award, Behavior Genetics Association, 2007
Theodore Reich Young Investigator Award, International Society of Psychiatric Genetics, 2004
