Dr. Wahlsten received his Ph.D. degree in psychology from the University of California Irvine and completed his postdoctoral work in behavior genetics at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado. He then established research laboratories at the University of Waterloo, the University of Alberta, and the University of North Carolina. The laboratory work involved genetic and developmental analysis of mouse brain defects and methods of behavioral testing. He also acquired expertise in statistical data analysis and theoretical issues central to the field. He was a co-founder of the very successful journal Genes, Brain and Behavior, and was given the Distinguished Scientist award by the International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society. Throughout his career, he has taught behavioral and neural genetics to undergraduate and graduate students.