Leah Richmond-Rakerd

Additional research interests: Population science, Genetic epidemiology, Self-regulation

Leah Richmond-Rakerd is a Professor of Psychology in the Clinical Science area at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Missouri; completed her clinical internship at the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center; and completed postdoctoral training at Duke University, supported by a fellowship from the NICHD through the Carolina Consortium on Human Development.

Dr. Richmond-Rakerd’s research focuses on emotional and behavioral dysregulation across the life course. Through her work, she aims to build knowledge about the origins, mechanisms, and outcomes of self-regulation difficulties, including disinhibitory disorders (substance use disorders and antisocial behavior), suicide and self-harm, and related mental-health conditions. Dr. Richmond-Rakerd also has a growing line of research on the implications of self-regulation difficulties for processes of aging and inequalities in population health. She uses genetically-informative, longitudinal, and nationwide administrative-register study designs in her research.

Representative Publications:

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Khalifeh, L., Burt, S.A., Ganiban, J.M., Hsu, R.E., Hyde, L.W., Lee, S., Leve, L.D., Natsuaki, M.N., Neiderhiser, J.M., Reiss, D., Shaw, D.S., Suarez, G.L., & Wertz, J. (2026). Disentangling shared and unique effects of parenting on psychopathology: Evidence from two prospective, genetically sensitive cohort studies. JCPP Advances. Advance online.

Fang, Y., Sen, S., Pathak, G.A., Burmeister, M., & Richmond-Rakerd, L.S. (2026). Testing bidirectional associations of depression with medical conditions: Two-sample Mendelian randomization study. npj Mental Health Research, 5, 24.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Milne, B.J., Houts, R.M., Davie, G., D'Souza, S., Goldman-Mellor, S., Khalifeh, L., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E., & Torvik, F.A. (2026). Mental health conditions are associated with increased risk of subsequent self-harm, assault and unintentional injuries in two nations. Nature Mental Health, 4, 102-111.

Khalifeh, L., Caspi, A., Dent, K.R., Harrington, H., Meier, M.H., Poulton, R., Ramrakha, S., Moffitt, T.E., & Richmond-Rakerd, L.S. (2025). Characterizing midlife-onset alcohol dependence: Implications for etiology, prevention, and healthy aging. Clinical Psychological Science, 13, 301-315.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Dent, K.R., Andersen, S.H., D'Souza, S., & Milne, B.J. (2024). Population-level administrative data: A resource to advance psychological science. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33, 361-370.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Iyer, M.T., D'Souza, S., Khalifeh, L., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E., & Milne, B.J. (2024). Associations of hospital-treated infections with subsequent dementia: Nationwide 30-year analysis. Nature Aging, 4, 783-790.

Andersen, S.H., Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Moffitt, T.E., & Caspi, A. (2024). The causal effect of mental health on labor market outcomes: The case of stress-related mental disorders following a human-made disaster. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121, e2316423121.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., D'Souza, S., Milne, B.J., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T.E. (2022). Longitudinal associations of mental disorders with dementia: 30-year analysis of 1.7 million New Zealand citizens. JAMA Psychiatry, 79, 333-340.

Fang, Y., Fritsche, L.G., Mukherjee, B., Sen, S., & Richmond-Rakerd, L.S. (2022). Polygenic liability to depression is associated with multiple medical conditions in the electronic health record: Phenome-wide association study of 46,782 individuals. Biological Psychiatry, 92, 923-931.

Milne, B.J., D'Souza, S., Andersen, S.H., & Richmond-Rakerd, L.S. (2022). Use of population-level administrative data in developmental science. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4, 447-468.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Caspi, A., Ambler, A., d’Arbeloff, T., de Bruine, M., Elliott, M., Harrington, H., Hogan, S., Houts, R.M., Ireland, D., Keenan, R., Knodt, A.R., Melzer, T.R., Park, S., Poulton, R., Ramrakha, S., Rasmussen, L.J.H., Sack, E., Schmidt, A.T., Sison, M.L., Wertz, J., Hariri, A.R., & Moffitt, T.E. (2021). Childhood self-control forecasts the pace of midlife aging and preparedness for old age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, e2010211118.

Andersen, S.H., Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Moffitt, T.E., & Caspi, A. (2021). Nationwide evidence that education disrupts the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118, e2103896118.

Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Baldwin, J.R., Danese, A., Houts, R.M., Matthews, T., Wertz, J., & Moffitt, T.E. (2019). Adolescents who self-harm and commit violent crime: Testing early-life predictors of dual harm in a longitudinal cohort study. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 186-195.