Hanan Marroun El

Hanan Marroun El is an Associate Professor at both Erasmus MC in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / Psychology and at the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences in Clinical Psychology. She also holds an endowed professorship in Clinical Psychology at the same institution. Her academic work is centered at the intersection of epidemiology and neuroscience, focusing on critical periods of brain development including prenatal stages, the first 1000 days of life, and adolescence.

Her research investigates how maternal, fetal, and child health factors influence behavioral, cognitive, and neuroanatomical outcomes. Key areas include substance use during pregnancy and adolescence, with extensive use of population-based cohort studies such as the Generation R Study. She employs advanced methodologies including MRI, meta-analysis, and longitudinal data analysis to assess brain morphology, connectivity, and developmental trajectories.

• Epidemiology
• Neuroscience
• Brain Development
• Maternal and Child Health
• Developmental Psychopathology
• Environmental Exposures

Her recent publications reveal a strong trend in interdisciplinary research connecting public health, environmental factors, and neurodevelopment. Articles span topics from gestational diabetes and neurodevelopment to air pollution’s impact on maternal vitamin D and temperature effects on sleep in preadolescents. These works frequently employ large-scale cohort data and meta-analytic techniques, underscoring her expertise in data synthesis and population-level inference.

While no specific scientific awards are listed in the provided text, her research has been widely recognized through substantial citation metrics, media coverage, and dataset usage. Her dataset on lithium exposure during pregnancy has been referenced by news outlets, blogged about, and shared across academic platforms.

She is actively involved in student supervision, having guided at least two academic projects, and contributes to teaching by disseminating research skills and knowledge to bachelor's and master's students. Her work is embedded in collaborative networks across Europe, involving multiple institutions and interdisciplinary teams focused on child and adolescent mental health.

Dr. Marroun El leads and contributes to significant research initiatives examining the biological and environmental determinants of brain development, with implications for preventive strategies in perinatal and adolescent mental health.