Joan Luby, MD

Joan Luby, MD, is the founder and director of the Washington University School of Medicine Early Emotional Development Program (EEDP) and the Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry (Child) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Luby’s research focuses on characterizing early childhood psychopathology, behavioral and biological markers of risk, and associated alterations in brain and emotional development. She has developed criteria for identifying, validating, and intervening in preschool-age depression, as well as a psychotherapeutic intervention and studies of parental nurturance and poverty’s effects on brain development. Dr. Luby has received numerous awards, including the NARSAD Gerald Klearman award and the AACAP Irving Philips award, and has published extensively in general and child psychiatric journals.