Peter B. Barr

Peter B. Barr is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry affiliated with the Institute for Genomics in Health. His research focuses on the intersection of social determinants, genetic factors, and mental health outcomes, with expertise in longitudinal analysis and psychiatric genetics.

Education: Completed doctoral training in sociology followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatric genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Research interests include early life influences on mental health trajectories, the moderating role of social conditions on genetic liability for substance misuse, and leveraging comorbidity patterns between psychiatric disorders for genetic discovery. He develops methodologies integrating social, clinical, and genetic data to identify high-risk populations in clinical settings.

Grants/Projects: Co-Investigator on NIDA R01 DA050721 exploring gene discovery through comorbidity analysis, and Co-Investigator on NIAAA R01 AA015416 studying alcohol misuse development. Active contributor to the Finnish Twin Cohort (FinnTwin12) midlife data collection and member of the Externalizing Consortium.

Collaborations: Works within the Institute for Genomics in Health to advance genomic health research initiatives.