Profile picture of Melynda Casement

Melynda Casement

Associate Professor
Center for Translational Neuroscience, Neuroscience, Psychology, SAIL
Phone: 541-346-7051
Office: 288 Straub Hall
Research Interests: Clinical Science, Developmental Psychopathology, Affective Processing, Sleep, Stress Neurobiology, Translational Neuroscience

Biography

I am a clinical scientist and licensed psychologist who is interested in leveraging sleep and circadian function to promote mental health. I am driven to understand how sleep creates risk and protection for the onset and progression of psychopathology, and to what degree sleep interventions can prevent mental distress and impairment during key periods of neurodevelopment such as adolescence and young adulthood.

My current research evaluates a model in which short/late sleep and stressful life events during adolescence and young adulthood contribute to symptoms of depression and alcohol use disorder by disrupting reward- and stress-related brain function. This research uses mixed methodologies, including measures of psychiatric symptoms, behavior (e.g., actigraphy, performance on cognitive paradigms), peripheral physiology (e.g., electrocardiography, neuroendocrine function, immune function), and brain function (e.g., electroencephalography, functional MRI).

Dr. Casement is interested in accepting new doctoral students for Fall 2024.

Selected publications:

*Denotes student authors

Niu, X.*, Zhou, S.*, & Casement, M.D. (2021). The feasibility of at-home sleep extension in adolescents and young adults: A meta-analysis and systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 58, 101443. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101443

Cheng, P., Casement, M.D., Kalmbach, D.A., Cuamatzi Castelan, A.S., & Drake, C.L. (2021). Digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia promotes later health resilience during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. SLEEP, 44(4), zsaa258. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa258

Casement, M.D., Livingston, N.R.*, Allen, N.A., & Forbes, E.E. (2020). Feasibility, acceptability, and affective consequences of at-home sleep extension in young women with depressive symptoms: A pilot study. Journal of Sleep Research, 30(4). doi: 10.1111/jsr.13045

Casement, M.D., Keenan, K.E., Hipwell, A.E., Guyer, A.E., & Forbes, E.E. (2016). Neural reward processing mediates the relationship between insomnia symptoms and depression in adolescence. SLEEP, 39(2), 439-447. doi: 10.5665/sleep.5460

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