Daniel Moriarity
Precision psychopathology
Psychoneuroimmunology
Methodological reform
Research Synopsis
Biological psychopathology is an inherently multidisciplinary field—this is both its core strength and also a risk factor for suboptimal methodological decisions becoming the status quo as researchers and clinicians alike work diligently to master the nuances of both psychology and biology. The Precision Psychopathology and Dynamic Immunopsychiatry Lab simultaneously conducts research that (a) investigates diverse dimensions of "precision" (i.e., symptom-level phenotyping, temporal phenotyping, biological profiling) in pursuit of refining psychopathological theories and interventions and (b) interrogates common methodologies in biological psychopathology using quantitative methods and creative data collection strategies in pursuit of continuously raising the standards of rigor and ultimately streamlining the research—clinical impact pipeline. This team takes a broadly multidisciplinary and transdiagnostic approach to this work; however, the dynamic interplay between stress, immunology, and affective psychopathology (depression, hypo/mania, and anxiety) will be common foci of our research.
Will review applications but not actively recruiting for Fall 2025 admission.
Dr. Daniel P. Moriarity directs the The Precision Psychopathology + Dynamic Immunopsychiatry (PPDI) Lab at UPenn. This lab conducts research focused on the dynamic interplay between stress, immunology, and affective psychopathology (depression, anxiety and hypo/mania). Using these research areas as a canvas, the broader mission of this lab is to identify facets of "precision" that are fundamental to making precision medicine the new status quo for mental health research and clinical practice. For example, (1) refining symptom-level clinical phenotypes associated with immunology, (2) advancing standards for biological data collection and modeling via physiometric research, and (3) integrating plausible biological mechanisms into robustly supported psychosocial frameworks of psychopathology risk, resilience, and treatment. This lab uses a breadth of methods (ecologically valid stress paradigms, acute stress tasks, psychological and pharmacological clinical trials) in pursuit of this mission. By conducting work that spans the basic-to-clinical research continuum, we aspire to equally contribute to both raising the methodological bar in biological psychology and informing the development and implementation of treatments.
A complete list of publications can be found at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zTCuAVcAAAAJ&hl=en
B.A. in Psychology, Elmira College
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Temple University
Moriarity, D. P., & Slavich, G. M. (2023). The future is dynamic: A call for intensive longitudinal data in immunopsychiatry. Brain, behavior, and immunity, 112, 118-124.
Moriarity, D. P., Mengelkoch, S., & Slavich, G. M. (2023). Incorporating causal inference perspectives into psychoneuroimmunology: A simulation study highlighting concerns about controlling for adiposity in immunopsychiatry. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 113, 259-266.
Moriarity, D. P., Slavich, G. M., Alloy, L. B., & Olino, T. M. (2023). Hierarchical inflammatory phenotypes of depression: a novel approach across five independent samples and 27,730 adults. Biological psychiatry, 93(3), 253-259.
Moriarity, D. P., Grehl, M. M., Walsh, R. F., Roos, L. G., Slavich, G. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2023). A systematic review of associations between emotion regulation characteristics and inflammation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 150, 105162.
Moriarity, D. P., Joyner, K. J., Slavich, G. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2022). Unconsidered issues of measurement noninvariance in biological psychiatry: A focus on biological phenotypes of psychopathology. Molecular psychiatry, 27(3), 1281-1285.
Moriarity, D. P., & Alloy, L. B. (2021). Back to basics: The importance of measurement properties in biological psychiatry. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 123, 72-82.