Sarah D. Lichenstein, PhD.

Neural mechanisms of risk for problem-level cannabis use among emerging adults

Dr. Lichenstein is a licensed clinical psychologist, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and Assistant Director of the Yale Imaging and Psychopharmacology Lab at Yale School of Medicine. She received her BA in Psychology from Bard College (2008), and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) in 2018. She completed her clinical internship in Yale’s Doctoral Internship in Clinical & Community Psychology with a dual focus on substance use disorder prevention and treatment, followed by postdoctoral training in the Neuroimaging Sciences T32 Training Program at Yale, applying advanced neuroimaging analysis and predictive modeling methods to elucidate neural mechanisms of addiction pathophysiology. Since joining the faculty at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Lichenstein’s research has focused on investigating how patterns of neural network connectivity impact the course of cannabis and other substance use disorders. To this end, she is currently completing the fifth year of a mentored K08 award combining multiple, large-scale, neuroimaging datasets with novel densely-sampled fMRI data to identify a neuromarker of problem-level cannabis use, and to characterize its development prior to cannabis use onset, and in the context of current cannabis use during adolescence and emerging adulthood.

Previous Webinars

Michael Petersen

Apr 15, 2026 11:00 AM Mountain Time

Trait Modifications in Cannabis Through Engineering and Editing

Michael Petersen has over 40 years of experience as a researcher and mentor in the plant biotech space. He worked for 10 years at Agracetus, a small startup in Wisconsin and then 20 years as a Senior Fellow with Monsanto. Mike stayed […]

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Francesca Filbey, PhD

Apr 9, 2026 01:00 PM Mountain Time

Understanding Cannabis Use Disorder Through Neuroimaging and Behavior

Francesca Filbey is a Professor and Director of the NeuroImaging of Reward Dynamics Laboratory at the Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Texas […]

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Travis Higginbotham

March 25 at 11:00 AM (MDT)

Turning Science into Cash Flow. Crop production performance and ROI analysis driven by crop science.25

Travis Higginbitham is the Founder & CEO of Due Diligence Horticulture (DDH). He is a horticultural and operations executive with deep experience leading controlled-environment agriculture, cannabis, and ornamental production businesses through innovation, growth, transition, and turnaround. Mr. […]

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Dr. Yan Wang

12 March, 1:00 PM MST

Real-time and long-term effects of medical marijuana on older adults with chronic pain: Early findings from a prospective cohort study.

 

Yan Wang is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Florida (UF). Her research interests focus on leveraging advanced technologies and methods (e.g., wearable sensors, ecological momentary assessment/EMA) to improve […]

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Igor Grant, M.D. and Thomas Marcotte, Ph.D.

Thursday, February 12th at 1:00 PM MST

The UC San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research: Some Findings

Igor Grant, MD is Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). Established in 2000, the CMCR has been at the forefront of advancing science and policy […]

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Almut Winterstein, PhD.

Jan 8, 2026 01:00 PM Mountain Time

Clinical research priorities gleaned real-world use patterns: the MEdical Marijuana Outcomes Research repositorY (MEMORY)

Almut Winterstein is Distinguished Professor and the Dr. Robert and Barbara Crisafi Chair for Medication Safety in the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy and in the Department of Epidemiology, and the founding Director of the […]

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