Calendar of events
Special Department Seminar: Professor William (Bill) E Copeland, University of Vermont
Title: Effects of a Family Income Supplement on Adult Outcomes of Children: A Natural Experiment in the USA
Abstract: Human capital investments made in the early life course have the opportunity to accumulate positive benefits across the life span. This logic has spurred interest, both in the research and public policy spheres, in programs like the child tax credit and universal basic income, which boost the financial resources of families with children through direct cash transfers. The expectations for such programs have been buttressed by results from the Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS), a natural experiment in the southeastern US that studied the outcomes of an exogenous income supplement to families of school-aged children on child educational and mental health outcomes. Because the study began 4 years prior to the implementation of income supplements (i.e., a casino opening), the study was able to adjust for preexisting differences between those who received vs did not receive the cash transfer. Positive associations were sustained to age 21 years. The GSMS now has data available on mental health, substance use, and real-world functioning to age 30 years, which are the focus of this study.
Bio: Dr. Copeland was trained as a clinical psychologist at the University of Vermont and then completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology at Duke University Medical Center. As part of a NIMH K23 award and a NARSAD early-career investigator award, he received supplemental training in psychiatric genetics and biomarker analysis. Since then, he has been the PI or Co-I on grants from NIMH, NIDA, NICHD and the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation to support his work on the longitudinal, representative Great Smoky Mountains Study. He is also currently an investigator on the Duke Preschool Anxiety Study, the Fast Track Intervention Trial, the University of Vermont Wellness Study, and Project RAISE. Across all of these studies, his research program has focusing on understanding the development of emotional and behavior health across the lifespan. This work includes understanding the interplay between early adverse experiences and genetic vulnerability with other individual, family, and contextual characteristics. The program of research has led to over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts including publications in JAMA, JAMA: Pediatrics, JAMA: Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, American Journal of Public Health, Biological Psychiatry, Molecular Psychiatry, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
https://bbrfoundation.org/about/people/william-e-copeland-phd
https://comis.med.uvm.edu/bioviewer/WebBio.aspx?BioID=35844
Professor Copeland is visiting Warwick from 3 - 22 July 2025. Please contact Catherine Johnstone c.j.johnstone@warwick.ac.uk if you'd like to make an appointment to meet personally. Catherine can also provide a Teams link if you want to join remotely.
