Lauren Rice

Dr. Lauren Rice is a Research Fellow at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre and Faculty of Medicine and Health. She holds affiliations with the Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School, the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in FASD, and Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre in the Fitzroy Valley, WA. Her work focuses on improving outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities and Indigenous communities affected by FASD and early trauma.

Education: PhD in Developmental Disabilities from the University of Sydney (2016). Postdoctoral training emphasized neurochemical mechanisms (GABA) and behavioral interventions in Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). Key projects include the Lililwan and Bigiswun Kid studies addressing FASD in remote Aboriginal communities.

Research interests span PWS neurobiology, FASD epidemiology, and culturally responsive health interventions. She leads randomized controlled trials (e.g., oxytocin trials, PRESTO resistance training) and scoping reviews on cannabinoid efficacy and FASD resources for professionals/educators.

Notable awards include the 2016 Prader-Willi Research Trainee Publication Award for identifying GABA deficiencies in PWS and the 2015 Society of the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes Bursary Award.

Grants include $1M+ from NHMRC, Ian Potter Foundation, and Westpac Scholars for studies on PWS treatment, FASD longitudinal tracking, and Indigenous adolescent health. Active collaborations include the International PWS Clinical Trial Consortium and Prader-Willi Research Foundation of Australia.

Labs/teams: Core member of Prof. Elizabeth Elliott’s FASD research team and the Brain and Mind Centre’s Developmental Disabilities group. Leads the Bigiswun Kid Project tracking adolescent outcomes from the Lililwan cohort.