Assistant Professor & Director, Biobehavioral Laboratory
A Nurse Scientist and a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Dr. Xavier investigates the biological mechanisms of neuropsychiatric symptoms for clinical translation. A second but equally important interest is in research methodology and analysis guided by the philosophy and principles of open science. Clinically, she has a special interest in psychosis and the severely mentally ill population. Dr. Xavier is also a seasoned clinician with extensive experience working with the severely mentally ill and chemically dependent adult population in a variety of psychiatric care settings including involuntary and voluntary treatment facilities, large community hospitals, state mental health systems and outpatient psychiatry clinics.
Learn more about Dr. Xavier’s lab here.
Dr Xavier is a research scientist, an interdisciplinary scholar, and a highly experienced psychiatric nurse practitioner. Her expertise is in the neuropsychiatric basis of psychiatric disorders, psychiatric genetics, biobehavioral methodologies and symptom science. Dr. Xavier has considerable clinical experience as a board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner working with individuals with psychiatric and mental health disorders in a variety of clinical care settings. Her interdisciplinary program of research cuts across the fields of nursing, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience, and focuses on the study of the neurobiological basis of psychiatric disorders for early identification, treatment, and prevention efforts.
Specialization/Research Areas: Available for presentations: I am happy to talk about any of the topics listed above, and can develop more specialized programs within any of these categories:
MANUSCRIPTS- PUBLISHED
Hauser, R.A., Meyer, J.M., Factor, S.A., Comella, C.L., Tanner, C.M., Xavier, R.M., Caroff, S.N. and Lundt, L., 2020. Differentiating tardive dyskinesia: a video-based review of antipsychotic-induced movement disorders in clinical practice. CNS spectrums, pp.1-10.
Brown, P., RELISH Consortium., Zhou, Y. (2019). Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search. Database, 2019*
Taylor JH, Calkins ME, Moore TM, Asabere N, Tang SX, Xavier R.M., Wolf DH, Almasy L, Gur RC, Gur RE. (2019) “Clinical, Neurocognitive, and Genetic Characteristics of Youths at Familial High Risk for Psychosis” (Under Review)
Dilks, S., Xavier, R.M.,Johnson, J., Kelly, C. (2019) Implications of Antipsychotic Use: Antipsychotic- Induced Movement Disorders, with a Focus on Tardive Dyskinesia, Nursing Clinics of North America (in press)
Xavier, R. M., Dungan, J.R., Keefe,R., and Vorderstrasse,A. ( 2018). Polygenic signal for symptom dimensions and cognitive performance in patients with chronic schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Research: Cognition, Volume 12, June 2018, Pages 11-19, ISSN 2215-0013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scog.2018.01.001.
Xavier R.M., Vorderstrasse A, Keefe RSE, Dungan JR. Genetic correlates of insight in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research. 2018 May; 195:290-297. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.10.021. Epub 2017 Oct 17.
Xavier, R. M., & Vorderstrasse, A. (2017). Genetic Basis of Positive and Negative Symptom Domains in Schizophrenia. Biological Research for Nursing, 19(5), 559-575. doi:10.1177/1099800417715907
Xavier, R. M., Pan, W., Dungan, J. R., Keefe, R. S., & Vorderstrasse, A. Unraveling interrelationships among psychopathology symptoms, cognitive domains and insight dimensions in chronic schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research. 2018 Mar;193:83-90. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.07.002. Epub 2017 Jul 8.
Xavier, R. M., & Vorderstrasse, A. (2016). Neurobiological Basis of Insight in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review. Nursing Research, 65(3), 224-237. doi: 10.1097/NNR.0000000000000159
“Are We There Yet? – Predictive and Clinical Utility of Polygenic Modeling for Complex traits and Symptom Science” Accepted for Expert Lecture 2019 ISONG World Congress, November 8, 2019
“Neurogenetic Approaches to Advancing Symptom Science in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: Focus on Psychosis and Severe Mental Illnesses” Accepted for 25th International Mental Health Nursing Research Conference, 12-13 September 2019, Royal College of Nursing Headquarters, London
“Neurogenetic Approaches to Decoding Neuropsychiatric Symptoms” 2019 Research Forum on Symptom Science: Advancing Nursing Practice, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, May 14, 2019
“Neurogenetic Approaches to Advancing Symptom Science: Focus on Psychosis and Severe Mental Illness”, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Nov 29, 2018
“Neurogenetic Approaches to Advancing Symptom Science: Focus on Psychosis and Severe Mental Illness”, University of North Carolina School of Nursing, Nov 27, 2018
“Application and Utility of Polygenic Risk Scores in Symptom Science”, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing Research and Innovation Colloquium, Nov 7, 2018
“The Neurobiological Basis of Insight in Schizophrenia: Implications for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing”, 2018 International Society of Psychiatric Nurses Annual Conference, April 4-12-2018
“Decoding Insight in Schizophrenia in the Era of Precision Health”. Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine Forum, Duke University, January 26, 2017
“A Neurobiological Approach to Investigating Insight Variations in Schizophrenia”. Poster presentation and Lightning talk session. 3rd Human Brain Project School, Obergurgl, Austria, November 2016
“Biological Basis of Insight in Schizophrenia: Evolution of a Dissertation”. Pre and Post-Doctoral Conference Series, Duke University School of Nursing, October 25, 2016
“I don’t need medicine-there is nothing wrong with me. I’m just here for a check-up”. Duke GradX, March 24, 2015
Taylor JH, Calkins ME, Moore TM, Asabere N, Tang SX, Xavier, R.M., Wolf DH, Almasy L, Gur RC, Gur RE (2018). “Clinical, Neurocognitive, and Genetic Characteristics of Youths at Familial High Risk for Psychosis”. Poster presentation, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Dec 10, 2018
Xavier, R.M., Caroff S, Gilbert N, Lenderking WR, Yeomans K, Shalhoub K, Ford A, Johnson J, Anthony E, Yonan C (2018), RE-KINECT: A Prospective Real-World Tardive Dyskinesia Screening Study and Registry in Patients Taking Antipsychotic Agents. Accepted for Poster presentation, American Psychiatric Nurses Association Annual Conference, Columbus, OH, 24 Oct- 27 Oct, 2018
Xavier, R.M., Caroff S, Gilbert N, Lenderking WR, Yeomans K, Shalhoub K, Ford A, Johnson J, Anthony E, Yonan C (2018), RE-KINECT: A Prospective Real-World Tardive Dyskinesia Screening Study and Registry in Patients Taking Antipsychotic Agents. Poster presentation, American Association of Nurse Practitioners National Conference, Denver, CO, June 26-Jul 1, 2018
Xavier, R.M., Vorderstrasse, A., Keefe, R., Dungan, J., (2017). “Polygenic Signal and Candidate Associations for Poor Insight in Schizophrenia”. Poster presentation,
Nature-NYU Conference on Neurogenetics, Aug9-11, 2017
Xavier, R.M., & Vorderstrasse, A., (2016), “Neurobiology of Insight in Schizophrenia: Findings from a Systematic Review”, Poster presentation, Schizophrenia International Research Society Biennial Conference, Florence, Italy, 2016. Abstract T163, npj Schizophrenia (2016) 2, Article number: 16007; doi:10.1038/ npjschz.2016.7
Xavier, R.M., (2015). “Neurobiology of Insight in Schizophrenia: A Review of Literature”. Poster presentation, North Carolina Graduate Education Day (May 19, 2015) at North Carolina State Capital, Raleigh, NC.