Hilary Marusak, PhD
banner
hmarusak.bsky.social
Hilary Marusak, PhD
@hmarusak.bsky.social
🧠Developmental neuroscientist at @waynemedicine studying childhood trauma, endocannabinoids, & youth mental health. Let's connect: https://msha.ke/wsuthinklab
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
We're looking forward to #SOBP2026!

🧠Building Better Brains: From Synapses to Societies
📆When: April 30 – May 2, 2026
📍Where: New York Marriott Marquis, New York City, New York

Join us for an engaging conference featuring the latest advancements in biological psychiatry.
October 16, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
Encircle ICE.
They can leave the circle but their victims stay with the people
NO VIOLENCE!
One circle and then another and another if necessary.
This is a police tactic that we need to be using against them. There are more of us than there are them.
Use our numbers against them!
October 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Fall in Michigan 🍁
October 24, 2025 at 11:54 AM
October 3, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...
Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal
www.nytimes.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Huge congratulations to @wsuthinklab.bsky.social's own Sam Ely for winning a Graduate Student Poster Award at the Cannabinoid Gordon Research Symposium 2025!!!!

#cannabinerds #CannabinoidGRC2025 @waynestatetnp.bsky.social
August 22, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
Trump calls those who serve “suckers and losers.” Now he’s gutting the housing program that alleviates Veteran homelessness.

Same contempt, different day.

MORE: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/h...
August 19, 2025 at 3:32 PM
It’s easy to feel discouraged in today’s climate, but teaching younger students about the brain—even all these years later—reminds me why I started. Seeing their excitement about science makes it all worth it ❤️🧠
August 7, 2025 at 11:18 AM
That escalated quickly!!!

(Jk, took > 6 years 😅)
July 31, 2025 at 11:31 AM
🎉 Huge congrats to TNP graduate student extraordinaire, Sam, on receiving the Corrine F. Resta Award! We’re so proud of you! 👏💙

📣 Stay up to date on all the amazing work from our TNP #Neuroscience faculty and #PhD students — follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Bluesky! @wsuthinklab.bsky.social
Samantha Ely has received the $25K Corrine F. Resta Award for her project on endocannabinoids and adolescent suicidal ideation. We're proud to celebrate this impactful work in youth mental health—congrats, Sam! 💙
July 15, 2025 at 12:20 AM
So honored to collaborate with this powerhouse group led by @mayoonthebrain.bsky.social 🌟

Grateful to @ryanntansey.bsky.social, @marcdferger.bsky.social, @pact-lab.bsky.social for the opportunity to contribute to this important work on the endocannabinoid system & developmental psychopathology! 🙌🧠
July 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
What do we know about the endocannabinoid system in developmental psychopathology?🤔

Find out in our recent paper, led by @pact-lab.bsky.social postdocs @ryanntansey.bsky.social & @marcdferger.bsky.social + collaborator extraordinaire @hmarusak.bsky.social 👇
<em>Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry</em> | ACAMH Pediatric Journal | Wiley Online Library
Background The endocannabinoid (eCB) system, the primary target of cannabis, has gained significant attention as a potential novel therapeutic approach for treating a range of psychiatric disorders ...
acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 11, 2025 at 12:17 AM
🎉 New paper! Led by @waynestateresearch.bsky.social medical student Sneha Bhargava, we show how puberty & sex impact fear extinction retention—key to understanding anxiety risk in females.

Read more: doi.org/10.1016/j.dc...

#Neuroscience #AdolescentMentalHealth #Puberty @wsuthinklab.bsky.social
July 10, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
July 10, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
#ThisWeekInNPP

⬆️ AEA & ⬇️ 2-AG levels are linked to ⬆️ anxiety in youth;

SSRI response in teens with GAD was tied to ⬆️ 2-AG;

Could endocannabinoids be biomarkers for anxiety & treatment response? #Cannabinerds

@wsuthinklab.bsky.social @hmarusak.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Circulating endocannabinoids in children and adolescents: associations with anxiety and the impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropsychopharmacology - Circulating endocannabinoids in children and adolescents: associations with anxiety and the impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
www.nature.com
July 8, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
NEW: Nearly 300 EPA workers have signed onto a “Declaration of Dissent” against the Trump administration’s climate policies and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s leadership.

This is the second declaration to come out of this administration from angry federal workers.
EPA Staffers Demand Change in ‘Declaration of Dissent’
“Today, we stand together in dissent against the current administration's focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise.”
www.importantcontext.news
June 30, 2025 at 12:45 PM
🚨 New paper in @npp-journal.bsky.social! We combined data from 3 studies (including an SSRI RCT) to explore how endocannabinoids relate to anxiety & treatment response in kids + teens. Team science w/ Jeanne Barcelona, Jeffrey Strawn & more!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@wsuthinklab.bsky.social
Circulating endocannabinoids in children and adolescents: associations with anxiety and the impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropsychopharmacology - Circulating endocannabinoids in children and adolescents: associations with anxiety and the impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
www.nature.com
June 30, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Excited to share my new edited book Cannabis and the Developing Brain—a deep dive into how cannabis impacts the brain during pregnancy, childhood, & adolescence. Thanks to all the amazing contributors! 💚🧠

Available via Springer, Amazon + more: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

#Cannabis #Brain
Cannabis and the Developing Brain
This book describes on the latest scientific research to explore the potential impact of cannabis use on the developing brain.
link.springer.com
June 26, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Grateful to kick off a new NIH-funded study w/ my dream team (Christine Rabinak @brainsbeesbikes.bsky.social & Leslie Lundahl) testing whether CBD can boost therapy for anxiety. Excited, but also heavy-hearted given the tough climate for so many colleagues... 💚🧠
research.wayne.edu/news/wayne-s...
Wayne State researchers examine how combining CBD and therapy may have greater effects on anxiety disorders
research.wayne.edu
June 26, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
People are dying and more will die because of this administration.
June 21, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
If anything, @gregggonsalves.bsky.social is too soft on Sen. Cassidy, who has betrayed everything he once stood for, as well as the medical profession, by ignoring RFK Jr.’s lies, all to delude himself into thinking he could control RFK Jr.’s worst impulses. www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Bill Cassidy: A Profile in Cowardice
The Louisiana Republican knew better than to vote for public health enemy RFK Jr. He did it anyway.
www.thenation.com
June 21, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
Trump sabotages
- Ag, family farms
- US health care and public health
- Science, research, academia
- fiscal health of US
- our democracy and our humanity
- our global reputation
Eternal shame to his Congressional enablers.
June 20, 2025 at 3:37 AM
We're hiring at the THINK lab @wsuthinklab.bsky.social! Join our NIH-funded study on anxiety, CBD & CBT (w/ Drs. Christine Rabinak & Leslie Lundahl).

Full-time RA—great for psych/neuro grads. Hands-on research incl. fMRI & biomarkers. Based in Detroit.

Apply:
waynetalent.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
June 15, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
Neuroscientist Clara Zundel explains how NIH funding brought her back to Michigan to study how pollution and lead exposure harm brain development. Without science, we lose the ability to protect kid’s brains from environmental threats. 🧪🏠
@clarazundel.bsky.social
www.voicenews.com/2025/03/12/f...
From New Baltimore to neuroscience: Why science funding matters
Federal science funding is more than just a line item in the budget — it drives the growth, innovation and services communities rely on.
www.voicenews.com
June 14, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Reposted by Hilary Marusak, PhD
My deepest respect and gratitude for the courageous #NIH employees who wrote and signed this Bethesda Declaration. I've read it in full, as well as the letter from #StandUpForScience - and I've signed on in support. www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...
Bethesda Declaration — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
Support NIH Staff Now!
www.standupforscience.net
June 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM