Karim Ibrahim
Cards
About
Titles
Assistant Professor in the Child Study Center
Biography
Karim Ibrahim is an Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. His translational neuroscience research focuses on brain networks associated with emotion regulation impairments in childhood-onset psychiatric disorders. Dr. Karim Ibrahim’s research is interdisciplinary and integrates multimodal imaging methods including functional and structural MRI, machine learning, and network neuroscience/connectomics approaches to identify biomarkers relevant to child psychopathology. His recent interests lie in using and developing tools predictive modeling/machine learning approaches that leverage large-scale neuroimaging datasets, including data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, for identifying robust brain-based biomarkers. Among other things in this area, his research also investigates dynamics of the human functional connectome and large-scale networks, how brain connectivity is altered in mental health disorders (such as a disruptive behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, and autism spectrum disorder) and the neural response to treatment in youths. As a licensed clinical child psychologist, he also has extensive experience in developmental psychopathology, including assessments and cognitive-behavioral interventions for autism spectrum disorder, mood, anxiety, and disruptive behavior. Karim completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center T32 research program in Translational Developmental Neuroscience and through an award from the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation multidisciplinary research training program.
Appointments
Child Study Center
Assistant ProfessorPrimary
Other Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- Postdoctoral fellow
- Yale University (2020)
- PsyD
- University of Hartford, Clinical Psychology (2016)
- MA
- University of Hartford, Clinical Practices (2014)
- MS
- Quinnipiac University, Cell and Molecular Biology (2009)
- BA
- Rutgers University, Psychology and Neuroscience (2004)
Research
Overview
Multimodal Imaging Biomarkers of Cognitive Control Networks in Children with Disruptive Behavior (K23 MH128451). This study investigates the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation difficulties in youth with disruptive behavior. Disruptive behaviors include aggression, noncompliance, irritability, anger outburst, and/or easily frustrated. The study utilizes fMRI to identify brain networks involved in emotion regulation and that are implicated in childhood disruptive behaviors. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, this 5-year study will enroll 135 participants between the ages of 9 to 12 years with varying levels of disruptive behaviors. A subgroup of participants will also be enrolled with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with and without co-occurring behavioral difficulties. Study participants complete parent- and self-report measures of emotion and social functioning, diagnostic assessments of child psychopathology including autism, and fMRI. This study leverages fMRI to understand patterns of functional connectivity across brain networks involved in emotion regulation in youths with disruptive behavior.