Walder, Deborah, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Education: Ph.D. Emory University (Clinical Psychology)
Email: dwalder@brooklyn.cuny.edu

Office: 5303 James Hall @ Brooklyn College
Telephone: 718-951-5000 X 6013

Lab: 5303 James Hall @ Brooklyn College
Telephone: 718-951-5000 X 6013

Courses:
Undergraduate: (@Brooklyn College)
Psychological and Developmental Disorders of Childhood
Counseling Processes: Theory & Technique
Independent Honors Research
Independent Honors Fieldwork

Graduate: (@Brooklyn College)
Psychopathology
Cognitive & Behavioral Approaches to Psychotherapy
Doctoral Colloquium Series

Selected Publications:
Walder, D.J., Mittal, V., Trotman, H., McMillan A.L., & Walker, E.F. (In Press 2008). Neurocognition and conversion to psychosis in adolescents at high-risk. Schizophrenia Research.

Mittal, V. A., Sacazawa, M., Walder, D. J., Willhite, R., & Walker, E.F. (in press). Prenatal viral teratogen exposure and conversion among adolescents at high-risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia Research.

Mittal, V.A., Dhruv, S., Tessner, K.D., Walder, D.J. & Walker, E.F. (2007). The relations among putative bio risk markers in schizotypal adolescents: Minor physical anomalies, movement abnormalities and salivary cortisol. Biological Psychiatry, 61, 1179-1186.

Walder, D.J., Seidman, L.J., Makris, N., Tsuang, M.T., Kennedy, D.N., Goldstein, J.M. (2007). Neuroanatomic substrates of sex differences in language dysfunction in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 90, 295-301.

Walder, D.J., Andersson, T.L.C., McMillan, A.L., Breedlove, S. M., & Walker, E.F. (2006). Sex differences in finger digit ratio (2D:4D) are disrupted in adolescents with schizotypal personality disorder: Altered prenatal gonadal hormone levels as a risk factor. Schizophrenia Research, 86, 118-122.

Walder, D.J., Seidman, L.J., Cullen, N., Su, J., Tsuang, M., & Goldstein, J.M. (2006). Sex differences in language dysfunction in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(3), 470-477.

Walker, E. F., Bonsall, R., & Walder, D. J. (2002). Plasma hormones and catecholamine metabolites in Monozygotic Twins Discordant for psychosis. Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology, and Behavioral Neurology, 15, 10-17.

Zalker, E. F., Walder, D. J., & Reynolds, F. (2001). Developmental changes in cortisol secretion in normal and at-risk youth. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 721-732.

Walder, D. J., Walker, E. F., & Lewine, R. J. (2000). Cognitive functioning, cortisol release, and symptom severity in patients with schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry, 48, 1121-1132.

Walker, E. F., Logan, C. B., & Walder, D. (1999). Indicators of neurodevelopmental abnormality in schizotypal personality disorder. Psychiatric Annals, 29, 132-136.

Szeszko, P. R., Bilder, R. M., Dunlop, J. A., Walder, D. J., & Lieberman, J. A. (1999). Longitudinal assessment of methylphenidate effects on oral word production and symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia at acute and stabilized phases. Biological Psychiatry, 45, 680-6.

Research Summary:
My research program focuses on the neurodevelopment of psychiatric illness with consideration of sex differences. I study the role of early developmental risk factors such as stress, neurohormones, neuropsychological functioning, and brain structure/function among at-risk youth. This includes the use of longitudinal, prospective methods in order to better understand the risk factors and early premorbid/prodromal trajectory of psychiatric illness, with an eye toward prevention and early intervention.

Lab Members:
Valerie Bobr
Prachi Dua
Bracha Goykadosh
Margalit Haber
Serge Pouchiline
Lennesse Semple
Sarah Sultan