Dr. Karcher is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Karcher received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Missouri. Dr. Karcher’s work uses large-scale datasets to better understand the contributions of neural, genetic, and environmental factors to the etiology of early psychosis spectrum symptoms. My work uses several methodologies, including functional MRI, structural MRI, epidemiological, and genomic approaches to the study of the etiology of psychotic-like experiences. Dr. Karcher is also motivated to develop identification and prevention efforts for children and adolescents at risk for the development of psychotic experiences, including efforts to reduce mental health disparities. Dr. Karcher serves as one of the Washington University in St. Louis site co-Investigators for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.
Dr. Karcher’s research with the ABCD study includes examining a range of risk factors for
distressing psychotic-like experiences, including risk factors such as exposure to environmental toxins, as well as potential protective factors, such as exposure to social support.
List of SDoH-Related References
- Fine JD, Moreau AL, Karcher NR, Agrawal A, Rogers CE, Barch DM, Bogdan R.
Association of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure With Psychosis Proneness Among
Children in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. JAMA
Psychiatry. 2019;76(7):762-764. PMCID:PMC6583849 PMID:30916716 - Karcher NR, Niendam TA, Barch DM. Adverse childhood experiences and psychotic-
like experiences are associated above and beyond shared correlates: Findings from
the adolescent brain cognitive development study. Schizophr Res. 2020;222:235-
242. PMCID:PMC7572890 PMID:32522466 - Paul SE, Hatoum AS, Fine JD, Johnson EC, Hansen I, Karcher NR, Moreau AL,
Bondy E, Qu Y, Carter EB, Rogers CE, Agrawal A, Barch DM, Bogdan R. Associations
Between Prenatal Cannabis Exposure and Childhood Outcomes: Results From the
ABCD Study. JAMA Psychiatry. 2021;78(1):64-
76. PMCID:PMC7512132 PMID:32965490 - Karcher NR, Schiffman J, Barch DM. Environmental Risk Factors and Psychotic-like
Experiences in Children Aged 9-10. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry.
2021;60(4):490-500. PMCID:PMC7895444 PMID:32682894 - Barch DM, Donohue MR, Elsayed NM, Gilbert K, Harms MP, Hennefield L, Herzberg
M, Kandala S, Karcher NR, Jackson JJ, Luking KR, Rappaport BI, Sanders A, Taylor
R, Tillman R, Vogel AC, Whalen D, Luby JL. Early Childhood Socioeconomic Status
and Cognitive and Adaptive Outcomes at the Transition to Adulthood: The Mediating
Role of Gray Matter Development Across 5 Scan Waves. Biol Psychiatry Cogn
Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021. PMID:34273554 - Karcher NR, Loewy RL, Savill M, Avenevoli S, Huber RS, Makowski C, Sher KJ,
Barch DM. Persistent and distressing psychotic-like experiences using adolescent
brain cognitive development℠ study data. Mol Psychiatry. 2021. PMID: 34782711 - Karcher NR. Advances and Future Directions in Understanding Associations Between
Stressful Events and Cortical Thickness in Psychosis Risk. Biol Psychiatry Cogn
Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2022;7(2):124-126. PMID: 35131048. - Geckeler KC*, Barch DM, Karcher NR. Associations between social behaviors and
experiences with neural correlates of implicit emotion regulation in middle childhood.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2022;47(6):1169-1179. PMID: 35136189; PMCID:
PMC9019026. - Karcher NR, Klaunig MJ, Elsayed NM, Taylor RL, Jay SY, Schiffman J. Understanding
Associations Between Race/Ethnicity, Experiences of Discrimination, and Psychotic-
like Experiences in Middle Childhood. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry.
2022:S0890-8567(22)00180-0. PMID: 35378237. - Barnhart, S., Garcia, A. R., & Karcher, N. R. (2022). Adolescent mental health and
family economic hardships: the roles of adverse childhood experiences and family
conflict. J Youth Adolesc. 2022;51(12):2294-2311. doi:10.1007/s10964-022-01671-9 - Oh, H. Y., Davis, E. B., Klaunig, M., Narita, Z., Koyanagi, A., & Karcher, N. R. (2022).
Religiousness and psychotic experiences among young adult college students in the
United States [published online ahead of print, 2022 Nov 17]. Int J Soc Psychiatry.
2022;207640221135849. doi:10.1177/00207640221135849 - Baranger, D. A., Paul, S. E., Colbert, S. M., Karcher, N. R., Johnson, E. C., Hatoum,
A. S., & Bogdan, R. (2022). Association of mental health burden with prenatal
cannabis exposure from childhood to early adolescence: longitudinal findings from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. JAMA Pediatr.
2022;176(12):1261-1265. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.3191 - Oh, H., Du, J., Karcher, N.R. et al. The separate and joint effects of recent
interpersonal abuse and cannabis use on psychotic experiences: findings from
students in higher education in the United States. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-023-02483-3 - Jeste, D. V., Malaspina, D., Bagot, K., Barch, D.M.,…Karcher, N.R., …Young, L. J.
Review of major social determinants of health in schizophrenia-spectrum psychotic
disorders: III. Biology, Schizophr Bull. 2023; 49(4):867-
880. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad031 - Bridgwater, M. A., Petti, E., Giljen, M., Akouri-Shan, L., DeLuca, J. S., Rakhshan
Rouhakhtar, P.,…Karcher, N.R. … & Schiffman, J. (2023). Review of factors resulting
in systemic biases in the screening, assessment, and treatment of individuals at
clinical high-risk for psychosis in the United States. Front Psychiatry, 14, 1117022. - Johnson EC, Paul SE, Baranger DAA, Hatoum AS, Colbert SMC, Lin S, Wolff R,
Gorelik AJ, Hansen I, Karcher NR, Bogdan R, Agrawal A. Characterizing alcohol
expectancies in the ABCD study: Associations with sociodemographic factors, the
immediate social environment, and genetic propensities. Behav Genet. 2023;
53(3):265-278. doi: 10.1007/s10519-023-10133-2.