Overview
Dr. Jonathan Posner, a child and adolescent psychiatrist, joined Duke University in 2021 as the Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. Prior to coming to Duke, Dr. Posner directed a pediatric brain imaging laboratory at Columbia University, where he was the Suzanne Crosby Murphy Professor of Psychiatry. Dr. Posner completed his adult psychiatry training at Columbia University and his child and adolescent psychiatry training at the Oregon Health & Sciences University.
Dr. Posner’s research focuses on neurodevelopment with an emphasis on MRI approaches to studying neurobiological correlates of mental illness and cognitive development. He is a principal investigator on three longitudinal, family-based studies aimed at understanding the influence of family history, psychosocial adversity and prenatal exposures on the development of neural circuits involved in executive functions and emotion regulation.
His work has been published in several leading journals including JAMA Psychiatry, JAMA Pediatrics, Lancet Psychiatry and the Lancet. Dr. Posner also has extensive experience as an educator and has served as a mentor to numerous junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, psychiatric residents and medical students.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Sleep and fatigue complaints during pregnancy versus perinatal depression: Impact on toddler cognition.
Journal Article J Affect Disord · January 1, 2026 BACKGROUND: Sleep and fatigue complaints during pregnancy may increase risk for cognitive impairment among offspring, yet this relationship is difficult to disentangle from related risk factors such as perinatal depression. This longitudinal study examined ... Full text Link to item CitePrediction of mental health risk in adolescents.
Journal Article Nat Med · June 2025 Prospective prediction of mental health risk in adolescence can facilitate early preventive interventions. Here, using psychosocial questionnaires and neuroimaging measures from over 11,000 children in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, ... Full text Link to item CiteStructural brain measures among children with and without ADHD in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study cohort: a cross-sectional US population-based study.
Journal Article Lancet Psychiatry · March 2022 BACKGROUND: Structural neuroimaging research has identified a variety of abnormalities in cortical and subcortical structures in children with ADHD. However, studies to date have not employed large, non-referred samples, complete with data on potential con ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Advancing Identification of Circadian Delay in ADHD Youth: Associations with Clinical Heterogeneity and Cognition
ResearchCollaborator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2029Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Predict Mental Health Risk among Youth Presenting to Rural Primary Care Clinics
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2029Duke-NCCU Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Training Program in Child Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Conditions Program (DN-IPT)
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2024 - 2029View All Grants