Monica Luciana, PhD

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Monica Luciana, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychology, was named as the Chief Scientific Officer of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain (MIDB) in January 2022. In her role for the MIDB, Dr. Luciana is responsible for developing a strategic research plan for the Institute, advising the directors regarding high priority research agendas, maintaining knowledge of research operations within MiDB, leveraging these operations in relation to broader University and national initiatives, promoting opportunities for research collaborations, and working with the MiDB directors to assure an integration between the Institute’s research and clinical domains.

Dr. Luciana received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts. After pursuing postdoctoral training in child development at the University of Minnesota, she joined the UMN faculty in 1997. She is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor, a Distinguished Teaching Professor, and a founding member of the UMN Center for Neurobehavioral Development. She conducts longitudinal studies of brain and behavioral development in adolescents using personality measures, neurocognitive tests, and brain imaging techniques. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, she co-directs the University of Minnesota data collection site of the NIH-funded ABCD Consortium as well as the consortium’s workgroup on neurocognition. She has a particular interest in how use of substances such as cannabis and alcohol affects higher-order cognition and associated neural circuitry across development. She co-directs a T32-funded pre- and postdoctoral training program focused on genetic and neurobiological mechanisms of addiction and brings a wealth of administrative experience to the MIDB.