Jacquelyn L. Meyers

Jacquelyn L. Meyers is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, where she leads research at the Henri Begleiter Neurodynamics Laboratory within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She serves as Project Leader for the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA)'s Brain Function project and holds leadership roles in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (Substance Use Disorder-PTSD) and ENIGMA-EEG working group.

• Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (Psychiatric Epidemiology), Columbia University
• Ph.D. (Human and Molecular Genetics), Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University
• B.S. (Psychology), Florida State University

Meyers has developed an interdisciplinary research program examining the confluence of psycho-social risk, genetic, and neurodevelopmental factors for substance use and psychiatric disorders in diverse populations. Her work integrates epidemiology, genomics, and neurocognitive markers of addiction, with particular focus on how polygenic risk scores interact with environmental factors like trauma exposure. She has pioneered studies on polygenic risk score x trauma interactions in substance use disorders and has published extensively in high-impact journals including Molecular Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, and JAACAP.

Meyers' publication record demonstrates a clear trajectory from foundational genetic studies of alcohol use disorder toward increasingly sophisticated integrative approaches that combine genomic data with neurophysiological measures (particularly EEG), clinical assessments, and environmental factors. Her recent work focuses on the genetic comorbidity between PTSD and substance use disorders, leveraging large-scale genomic data to identify shared biological pathways.

• K01 award (NIDA)
• NARSAD Early Investigator award (Brain and Behavior Foundation)
• Multiple R01 grants from NIH (NIAAA, NIDA and NIMH)

Meyers has successfully mentored numerous researchers through her role as Principal Investigator on multiple NIH-funded projects. Her current research portfolio includes significant investigations into how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted substance use behaviors among individuals with alcohol use disorder, with particular attention to genetic and neural vulnerabilities. She leads several projects that integrate social determinants of health with biological markers to better understand substance use disorder trajectories.

Meyers directs the Henri Begleiter Neurodynamics Laboratory, which employs advanced neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and genomic techniques to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying addiction. Her team collaborates extensively with the COGA consortium and other large-scale genomic initiatives to identify biological markers that can inform prevention and treatment strategies for substance use disorders.