Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Hong is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinician-scientist. His responsibilities span clinical care, teaching/mentorship, and research, with a unifying theme of advancing a developmental cognitive framework as applied to psychiatric conditions. Using this core premise, he work encompasses multiple domains: specialized clinical care, fellowship training, research mentorship, and elaborating the role of sex-specific determinants of development, one of the greatest contributors to individual developmental variation.
His lab investigates genetic and hormonal influences underlying sex differences in child psychiatric conditions. Sex has emerged as a critical variable driving differences in the phenomenology, course, and treatment of many mental health disorders. Unfortunately, an understanding of the biological mechanisms driving these effects are limited. By applying innovative neuroimaging and multiomic approaches, Dr. Hong seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the connection between sex-specific effects and complex psychiatric diseases. To do so, research in the Hong Lab focuses on the role of genes on the X and Y chromosomes, as well as circulating sex hormones on brain development, cognition, and behavior. The lab broadly aims to elucidate the changing nature of these mechanisms across various stages of development.
Another area of focus is the implementation of clinical informatics in child psychiatry and the development of digital mental health tools. As co-Director of the Mental Health Technology and Innovation Hub, Dr. Hong is helping to develop clinical and research infrastructure within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences to advance development of mobile mental health resources that will improve efficacy and access to mental health care.
