My research focuses on how children and adolescents learn about their environment, how brain circuitry involved with learning may be impacted by early life stress, and how these brain changes may confer risks for negative outcomes. Through the use of structural and functional MRI, my research aims to learn about the impact of stress on neurobiology through a focus on two different forms of behavior. First, I have explored how early life stress may increase risk for disruptive behavioral problems through alterations in the brain. Second, I have focused on how early life stress may convey risk for depression. Through a series of studies, I have found that the risks for different forms of psychopathology associated with early life stress are conveyed by specific alterations in brain circuitry responsible for reward and socio-emotional information processing. This research program includes longitudinal assessments of individuals at multiple levels of analysis, including neurobiology, family functioning, and developmental history.
People who experienced childhood adversity had poorer COVID-19 outcomes, new study shows
Nov 30, 2023 00:43 am UTC| Health
Adults who faced adversity during childhood were significantly more likely to die from or be hospitalized because of COVID-19. Thats the key finding of my teams recent study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and...