Lindsay M. Squeglia

Lindsay M. Squeglia is a Professor and licensed clinical psychologist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine. She serves as co-Director of the MUSC Youth Collaborative, a research group dedicated to fostering healthy development and positively impacting the community while encouraging young people to pursue careers in science and discovery. Dr. Squeglia co-leads MUSC's site for the nationwide Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD) and has held various roles on the ABCD Steering Committee, Novel Technology Workgroup, and Community Engagement and Dissemination Workgroup.

Dr. Squeglia completed her educational journey with a Bachelor's degree in Experimental Psychology at the University of South Carolina, followed by a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the San Diego State University/University of California San Diego (UCSD) joint program. She completed her clinical internship in neuropsychology at the University of California Los Angeles and her postdoctoral fellowship in neuroimaging at UCSD. In 2023, she completed a Fulbright Senior Scholar fellowship at the University of Sydney, establishing cross-national collaboration between the United States and Australia to improve health outcomes globally for youth struggling with substance use and mental health issues.

Dr. Squeglia's National Institutes of Health-supported research focuses on two primary areas: (1) understanding the effects of alcohol and cannabis use on brain development and (2) using neuroscience to improve prevention and treatment of adolescent substance use disorders. Her work spans neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and clinical intervention studies, with a particular emphasis on how substance use impacts the developing adolescent brain. She has developed innovative prevention programs such as "Just Say Know," a neuroscience-focused substance use prevention program designed to empower youth with scientific knowledge about addiction.

Her publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on adolescent substance use, with particular attention to neurobiological mechanisms, prevention strategies, and treatment interventions. Recent work has expanded to include research on Long COVID in children and adolescents, reflecting her adaptability to emerging public health concerns while maintaining her core focus on youth brain development and substance use.

• Fulbright Senior Scholar fellowship (2023)

Dr. Squeglia is actively involved in mentoring and training the next generation of researchers. She is open to working with trainees at all career levels with an interest in understanding and addressing youth substance use, particularly those with prior substance use research experience interested in working with data from ongoing or completed MUSC Youth Collaborative clinical trials studies and/or ABCD data. She leads the MUSC High School Teen Science Ambassador Program, which provides high school students from groups underrepresented in the biomedical sciences with a three-phase internship experience in academic clinical research. Her NIH-supported research provides substantial grant funding that supports her laboratory and trainees.

The MUSC Youth Collaborative team, which Dr. Squeglia co-directs, consists of doctors, postdoctoral fellows, lab managers, research assistants, and trainees dedicated to addressing youth substance use through clinical services, research, and community education. The collaborative offers a range of services including clinical care, paid research opportunities, and educational programs such as classroom and community presentations focused on preventing and addressing youth substance use.