THE JONAS LAB
OUR RESEARCH
Our lab has two areas of research:
Genetics of psychotic disorders.
What is the nature of genetic risk for psychotic disorders? We are interested in the genetic structure underlying thought disorder, a series of investigations supported by K08 MH122673 and R21 MH123908. Much of this work takes place as part of the HiTOP consortium’s genomics workgroup. We are also interested in how genetic risk manifests in symptom profiles, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We also look at the relationship between genetic risk and long-term clinical outcomes such as recovery, remission, and treatment resistance. This work is carried out using data collected in the lab, and with data from all over the world contributed to the First-Episode Psychosis Special Interest Group (FEP-GEN) of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.
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Course of psychosis and psychotic disorders.
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We study how psychoticism, detachment, and cognition develop over the lifespan, from the premorbid to chronic stages of illness. The Prediction of EMerging Psychosis Trajectories (PreEMPT) study is an investigation of how psychoticism, detachment, and cognition develop in early adulthood. We also work closely with Drs. Evelyn Bromet (professor emeritus) and Roman Kotov on the Suffolk County Mental Health Project (SCMHP), currently the longest-running study of first-episode psychosis in the world. We collaborate with researchers leading similar efforts across the globe to understand how symptoms, cognition, and functioning change over the course of illness in psychotic disorders.
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PUBLICATIONS
A full list of lab publications can be found on Dr. Jonas's CV, linked here.
Recent Papers
Asim, A., Yang, Y., PsyCourse Consortium, Heilbronner, U., Schulze, T., Lencz, T., Vassos, E., Clouston, S., Kotov, R. Jonas, K. G., (2026). The impact of selection bias on genetic prediction using the bipolar polygenic risk scores in first-admission psychosis. Neuropsychopharmacology. 51:430–439.
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Yang, Y., Clouston, S., Reichenberg, A., Callahan, J., Ruggero, C., Carlson, G., Bromet, E., Kotov, R. Jonas, K. G. (2025). Predictors and outcomes associated with 25-year cognitive decline in psychotic disorders. Schizophrenia Bulletin. sbaf051.
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Tramazzo, S., Lian, W., Ajnakina, O., Carlson, G., Bromet, E., Kotov, R., & Jonas, K. (2024). Long-term course of remission and recovery in psychotic disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 181(6), 532-540.
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See related podcast
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​Jonas, K., Cannon, T. D., Docherty, A., Dwyer, D., Reininghaus, U., & Kotov, R. (2023). Psychosis Superspectrum I: Nosology, Etiology, and Lifespan Development. Molecular Psychiatry, 29(4), 1005-1019.
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Waszczuk, M. A., Jonas, K. G., Bornovalova, M., Breen, G., Bulik, C. M., Docherty, A. R., Eley, T. C., Hettema, J. M., Kotov, R., Krueger, R. F., Lencz, T., Li, J. J., Vassos, E., & Waldman, I. D. (2023). Dimensional and transdiagnostic phenotypes in psychiatric genome-wide association studies. Molecular Psychiatry, 28(12), 4943-4953.
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Jonas K, Lian W, Callahan J, et al. The Course of General Cognitive Ability in Individuals With Psychotic Disorders. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(7), 659-666.
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​​Jonas, K., Abi-Dargham, A., & Kotov, R. (2021). Two Hypotheses on the High Incidence of Dementia in Psychotic Disorders. JAMA psychiatry, 78(12), 1305-1306.
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​​​Jonas, K. G., Fochtmann, L. J., Perlman, G., Tian, Y., Kane, J. M., Bromet, E. J., & Kotov, R. (2020). Lead-time bias confounds association between duration of untreated psychosis and illness course in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(4), 327-334.
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​Jonas, K. G., Lencz, T., Li, K., Malhotra, A. K., Perlman, G., Fochtmann, L. J., ... & Kotov, R. (2019). Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and 20-year course of illness in psychotic disorders. Translational Psychiatry, 9(1), 1-8.
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OUR TEAM
Katherine Jonas - Principal Investigator
Katherine Jonas PhD LP is the lab’s principal investigator. Dr. Jonas received her bachelor’s degree cum laude from Harvard University in 2008. She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa, graduating in 2017 after a clinical internship at the Minneapolis VA. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health at Stony Brook, and has been licensed in New York State since 2019. She joined the faculty at Stony Brook as Assistant Professor in 2021.
Dr. Jonas is interested in the course of psychotic disorders (R01 MH135119), and in particular, how genetic risk factors impact a person’s symptoms, course of illness, and response to treatment. She is also interested in the design of genetic association studies, and approaches that can improve the power and precision of genetic research. This work is funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (K08 MH122673 and R21 MH123908).
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If she's not in the lab she's probably running.
Yuan Yang - PhD Student
Yuan obtained her bachelor's in Clinical Medicine from Harbin Medical University in China in 2017. She graduated with her master's in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018. She joined the Public Health Ph.D. program at Stony Brook University in 2020. She is currently focusing on applying longitudinal analysis to cognition health risk identification.
Saheed Lawal - PhD Student
Saheed is a PhD student in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, and a member of the Stony Brook Scholars in Biomedical Sciences program. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physiology from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. Saheed’s clinical research is focused on the contribution of environmental risk factors to the course of psychotic disorders in first episode psychotic patients. His dissertation studies psychiatric phenotypes in tuberous sclerosis complex-associated neuropsychiatric disorders.
Jeffrey Liu - PhD Student
Jeffrey is a PhD student in the Department of Applied Math. Jeffrey has been a student at Stony Brook since 2020. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in 2024 and is now a PhD student in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. His primary mentor is Dr. Pei-Fen Kuan. Jeffrey is a data analyst with expertise in both longitudinal modeling and molecular genetic analytic methods.
Swathi Karthik - PhD Student
Swathi is a Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, where she contributed to research examining changes in neuronal representations during the progression of reward and fear learning in the mouse visual cortex. After graduating, she worked as a Research Technician at Washington University in St. Louis, investigating effort-based decision-making in individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Her primary mentor is Dr. Aprajita Mohanty. Her current research focuses on identifying the contributors to differences in learning, memory, and cognition in schizophrenia using computational and longitudinal methods.
Grimm - Lab Mascot
Grimm has no credentials and no aspirations, making him an outstanding mascot.
Alumni
Alexandra Leitch - PreEMPT Coordinator
Alexandra contributed to multiple protocols in the TrACE division, including the PreEMPT, and PIGMENT (led by Dr. Greg Perlman) studies. She completed her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy from Stony Brook. She plans to advance her career in psychology by pursuing a Master's in Social Work, with the goal of becoming a licensed therapist.
Alexandria Trepiccione - TrACE Administrator
Alongside her work as a full-time coordinator, Alexandria handled administrative duties for the TrACE division, including the Jonas Lab. She graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a minor in Health, Medicine, and Society. She is now a student in the Stony Brook MSW/MPH program. Outside of research, Allie can often be found reading books, going for walks, and enjoying various podcasts.
Wenxuan (Wendy) Lian - Data Analyst
Wendy is a PhD student at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. She graduated from Stony Brook with a M.S in both Materials Science and Applied Mathematics. Wendy worked as a data analyst in the lab, co-authoring over 10 publications from the lab. Her specialties include multivariate time series, factor modeling and survival analysis.
David Fernandes - Lab Coordinator
David completed his Maters of Clinical Psychology at Stony Brook University. He coordinated the 10 year follow-up of the Stony Brook subsample of the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort, as well as tissue donation efforts for the Suffolk County Mental Health Project. David hopes to pursue a PhD in neuropsychology and work with adolescents in the future.
Cheyanne Busso - Interviewer
Cheyanne Busso completed her Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health degrees at Stony Brook University. She has worked in research for over 10 years, beginning as an undergraduate research assistant investigating factors that affect prenatal maternal stress on women’s health behaviors and birth outcomes and more recently, as the lead clinical interviewer for The Suffolk County Mental Health Project, a longitudinal study following first episode psychosis. She received awards from the New York State Office of Mental Health and Stony Brook School of Social Welfare for additional training in evidence-based practices for adults diagnosed with serious mental illness, as well as scholarships from Stony Brook's program in Public Health (2021) and The Sisters in Public Health (2022) for continuing work in cultural competency. Cheyanne is interested in psychiatric epidemiology and the diagnosis and treatment of serious mental illnesses, and particularly racial disparities across diagnosis and care.
Sara Tramazzo - Interviewer and Coordinator
Sara Tramazzo received her B.A. in Psychology from Stony Brook University in 2019. In addition to being a coordinator and interviewer for The Genomic Psychiatry Cohort under Dr. Jonas, Sara was coordinator for the 28 year follow-up of the Suffolk County Mental Health Project, a longitudinal study following first episode psychosis under Dr. Kotov. Sara is currently a Clinical Psychology PhD student at Hofstra University.
Amna Asim - Master's Student
Amna completed her Masters in Clinical Psychology at Stony Brook University. In her time with the lab she led a manuscript focusing on the impact of collider bias on genetic prediction. She completed an honors thesis on the impact of smartphone usage on mindful attention and aggression among car drivers during her undergraduate at Bahria University, Islamabad. Currently, Amna is working at the University of Washington as a research coordinator.
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Jeremy Kunins - Interviewer
Jeremy Kunins worked as an interviewer for the Suffolk County Mental Health Project under Dr. Jonas, and planned to pursue a PhD in Neuropsychology. He’s interested in working alongside individuals with neurological disorders to aid in treatment and further the body of research.
JOIN US
Stony Brook University seeks a full-time postdoctoral fellow to conduct research with Drs. Roman Kotov (Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology) and Katherine Jonas (Department of Psychiatry). The post-doctoral fellow will have access to outstanding research resources and mentorship. Duration and start time are negotiable.
We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to collaborate on Suffolk County Mental Health Project (SCMHP). SCMHP is the longest-running longitudinal study of individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychoses, and has produced over 100 publications to date. The study began in 1989 by recruiting a county-wide, first-admission cohort (N=628). At follow-up year 20, we added healthy controls and unaffected siblings. We are now launching 35-year follow-up. Extensive longitudinal data are already available on psychiatric symptoms, neuropsychological tests, neural functioning (ERP), genomics, physical health, and real-world functioning. Stony Brook University is a highly collaborative environment with close relationships between departments of psychology, psychiatry, and statistics.
Drs. Kotov and Jonas will provide both formal and informal guidance toward a career in academia or industry. Former postdocs in their group have gone on to tenure-track faculty positions. Supervision meeting licensure requirements is available. The fellow will have many opportunities publishing high-impact research as first author. The fellow can emphasize training in statistical methods, grantsmanship, and substantive questions related to psychotic disorders. Additional training in molecular genetics is available for interested candidates. Responsibilities are manuscript preparation, grant writing, and supervision of data collection (~33% each). Salary is competitive with fellowships in the New York City region.
Qualifications include a 1) doctoral degree, 2) expertise in advanced statistics and in psychopathology, as well as 3) a minimum of two first-authored publication. Familiarity with longitudinal research and experience coordinating externally-funded studies are desirable.
To apply, please email Roman Kotov (roman.kotov@stonybrook.edu) and Katherine Jonas (Katherine.jonas@stonybrook.edu) with your CV and contact information of three references. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
CONTACT US
MEDIA
On BlueSky @kgjonas.bsky.social