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Dr. Keren Bachi, PhD, LCSW, is a neuroscientist and a clinical trialist whose rich clinical background set the stage for her scientific path. Dr. Bachi’s research program centers on the investigation of neurobiological underpinnings of social factors – primarily long-term effects of early life adversity – across comorbidities, including stress-related disorders and addictions, aimed to glean insights for novel prevention, early intervention, and treatments. The research questions Dr. Bachi studies build on her clinical observations and scientific knowledge, facilitating a two-way bridge between the clinic and research. Following the receipt of Dr. Bachi’s doctoral degree in 2014, she became the first Social Work Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). Dr. Bachi completed a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 postdoctoral fellowship in an interdisciplinary training linking neuroscience and systems therapeutics in drug abuse research. In 2018, Dr. Bachi was appointed Assistant Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Environmental Medicine at ISMMS, and Faculty of the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai (AIMS). Dr. Bachi was awarded a NIDA K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award to examine neuroimmune underpinnings of social factors in cocaine addiction and healthy individuals, with and without childhood trauma. In 2022, Dr. Bachi was appointed Assistant Director of Clinical Research for AIMS, reflecting her contribution in recent years to the advancement of addiction treatment scientifically by scientific design and management of several double-blinded randomized controlled clinical trials for medication development and neuroimaging. In 2025, Dr. Bachi was appointed Associate Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Environmental Medicine at ISMMS, following receipt of an R01 grant funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to study the pathophysiological mechanisms of cannabidiol in stress regulation. This is a study of stress system neurobiological mechanisms and the potential role of cannabidiol (CBD) in ameliorating acute stress responsivity effects in young adults at high-risk for psychopathology.