460 Turner Street NW
Blacksburg, VA 24060
About Us
Comorbidity of mental disorders is a major problem for mental health research and practice. The lab aims to address this problem by employing a transdiagnostic, dimensional, and neuroscience-informed approach to the study of the etiology and development of multiple forms of psychopathology. Instead of relying on traditional diagnostic categories, we aim to study the shared variation and dimensionality among mental disorder symptoms (i.e., comorbidity and severity) to identify common features of psychopathology across internalizing, externalizing, and thought disorder spectra. To do this, we combine clinical (e.g., diagnostic interview and questionnaire), behavioral (e.g., neurocognitive, affective, personality testing), and multi-modal neuroimaging (e.g., structural and functional MRI) methods to examine shared risk markers of psychopathology at multiple levels of analysis in adolescents and adults. The ultimate goal of this research is to provide novel insights on transdiagnostic targets for interventions to improve outcomes for individuals whose symptoms span traditional diagnostic categories.
Join Us
Information for Prospective Graduate Students:
Dr. Romer is recruiting for the Clinical Science PhD Program this upcoming cycle (2027-2028 academic year; deadline: December 1, 2026).
For more information about the Clinical Science program at Virginia Tech, please check out our program website.
For more information about who is a good fit for the lab and my approach to mentorship, please read this FAQ. If you have a specific question not already answered in the FAQ, feel free to email me at aromer@vt.edu. Emails expressing interest are not required and will not affect your application success.
Information for Prospective Undergraduate Students:
We are no longer recruiting undergraduate research assistants for the Fall 2026 semester. For inquiries regarding openings for Spring 2027, feel free to email Dr. Romer (aromer@vt.edu) or the SPAN lab email address (spanlab@vt.edu).