Lisa Gorham

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Cynthia Rogers, MD

Undergraduate university: Washington University, 2019

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
Cortical Expansion in Early Life

I am a Neuroscience PhD student working in the WUNDER lab (Dr. Cynthia Rogers and Dr. Christopher Smyser). Our lab studies longitudinal trajectories of brain development in neonates and young children using MRI/fMRI, as the first few years of life are a period of rapid and significant brain growth. My project specifically is looking at how structural brain development in the first few years of life is impacted by preterm birth and exposure to poverty. Additionally, I am investigating how these trajectories of macrostructural brain development relate to both underlying changes in cortical microstructure and cognitive and psychiatric outcomes later in childhood. Ideally, this work will help us better characterize how the brain develops during key periods of plasticity, and how the environment interacts with brain development to impact risk for cognitive and psychiatric difficulties.

Graduate publications
Gorham, L., Kaushal, P., Bruges, C., Rudloff, J., Dickey, V., Rogers, C., & Hoganson, G. 2026 Psychiatric Care in the Pediatric Emergency Department. , ():

Gorham L, Lean R, Latham A, Jackson J, Anaya B, Alexopoulos D, Loseille D, Smyser T, Garcia K, Smyser C, Rogers, C. 2026 Very Preterm Birth, Cortical Expansion, and Cognitive and Psychiatric Outcomes at Age 10 Years. , ():

Gorham L, Lean R, Latham A, Jackson J, Anaya B, Alexopoulos D, Loseille D, Smyser T, Garcia K, Smyser C, Rogers C. 2026 Very Preterm Birth, Cortical Expansion, and Cognitive and Psychiatric Outcomes at Age 10 Years. , ():

Lean RE, Anaya B, Gorham L, Smyser CD, Rogers CE. 2026 Executive function and implications for the Preterm Behavioral Phenotype in very preterm children at age 9-10 years. J Neurodev Disord, 18(1):45. PMCID: PMC13412151

Gorham LS. 2026 The Impact of Prenatal Disadvantage and Postnatal Enrichment on Early Structural Brain Development. , ():

Gorham LS. 2025 The Roles of Prenatal Disadvantage and Postnatal Enrichment on Structural Development of the Cortex from Birth to Age Three. , ():

Gorham L, Kaushal P, Bruges C, Rudloff J, Dickey V, Rogers C, Hoganson G. 2025 Psychiatric Care in the Pediatric Emergency Department. , ():

Gorham L, Latham A, Jackson J, Herzberg M, Tooley U, Smyser T, Alexopoulos D, Loseille D, Warner B, Luby J, Barch D, Rogers C, Garcia K, Smyser C. 2025 The Roles of Prenatal Disadvantage and Postnatal Enrichment on Structural Development of the Cortex from Birth to Age Three. , ():

Gorham L, Lean R, Latham A, Jackson J, Anaya B, Alexopoulos D, Loseille D, Smyser T, Garcia K, Rogers C, Smyser C. 2025 Very Preterm Birth, Cortical Expansion, and Cognitive and Psychiatric Outcomes at Age 10 Years. , ():

Gorham L, Purushothaman A, Saad Y, Dickey V, Rogers C, Hoganson G. 2025 Psychiatric Care in the Pediatric ED: Barriers to Outside Care and Parent Identified Solutions. , ():

Gorham LS, Latham A, Herzberg M, Tooley U, Sanders A, Jackson J, Alexopoulos D, Smyser TA, Barch D, Luby J, Warner B, Smyser CD, Rogers CE, Garcia KE. 2024 The Role of Positive and Negative Early Life Experiences on Cortical Expansion in the First Three Years of Life. , ():

Gorham LS. 2024 Cortical Expansion in Early Life. , ():

Gorham LS. 2024 . Modeling Brain Development in Children. , ():

Gorham LS, Latham AR, Alexopoulos D, Kenley JK, Iannopollo E, Lean RE, Loseille D, Smyser TA, Neil JJ, Rogers CE, Smyser CD, Garcia K. 2024 Children born very preterm experience altered cortical expansion over the first decade of life. Brain Commun, 6(5):fcae318. PMCID: PMC11426356

Tooley UA, Latham A, Kenley JK, Alexopoulos D, Smyser TA, Nielsen AN, Gorham L, Warner BB, Shimony JS, Neil JJ, Luby JL, Barch DM, Rogers CE, Smyser CD. 2024 Prenatal environment is associated with the pace of cortical network development over the first three years of life. Nat Commun, 15(1):7932. PMCID: PMC11387486

Gorham LS, Latham A, Alexopoulos D, Kenley JK, Smyser TA, Rogers CE, Smyser CD, Garcia KE. 2023 Very Preterm Infants and Full-Term Infants Show Varied Patterns of Cortical Expansion from Birth to 9/10 Years of Age. , ():

Gorham LS, Latham A. 2023 Modeling Brain Development in Children. , ():

Gorham LS. 2023 Parallels Between Development and Degeneration. , ():