Dr. Daniel C. Kopala-Sibley

I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at McGill University and post-doctoral fellowship at Stony Brook University. Broadly, my research pertains to the influence of developmental experiences (parenting in particular, but also peers and life stress in general) on change over time in personality and brain functioning in youth, and how these factors interact to influence risk for depressive and anxiety disorders. Given that having experienced a prior episode of depression or anxiety is one of the strongest predictors of experiencing a subsequent episode, I am particularly interested in understanding how developmental experiences, personality, and brain functioning predict the first onset of internalizing psychopathology. 

The primary project in my lab will examine predictors of the onset of first-episode depressive and anxiety disorders in a sample of early adolescents who have at least one parent with a history of these illnesses, and who are therefore at high risk. In particular this project will focus on parenting, personality, life stress, and neural markers of emotional and reward processing as well as cognitive control (assessed via fMRI) as predictors of the onset of depressive and anxiety disorders.

 

The Kopala Sibley Lab would like to acknowledge and thank the following funding sources:

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The C-BRAID lab would like to acknowledge that this study is conducted on the traditional territories of the people of the Treaty 7 region in Southern Alberta, which includes the Blackfoot Confederacy (comprised of the Siksika, Piikani, and Kainai First Nations), as well as the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including the Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations). The City of Calgary is also home to the Metis Nation of Alberta, Region III.