I completed my doctoral training in Clinical Psychology with a developmental focus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, followed by a clinical internship at the University of Washington Medical School and a postdoctoral fellowship focused on Clinical Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. Throughout this training and continuing as an Assistant Professor of Psychology, I have been interested in bridging biological and behavioral science disciplines to better understand how risk for stress-related disorder is passed down within families, and how we can better identify and intervene to interrupt such risk pathways. As part of this work, I have investigated both early risk predictors and mental health outcomes associated with neuroendocrine (cortisol), neural, and behavioral responsiveness to interpersonal stress in romantic couples and parent-child dyads. My growing interest in mindfulness as a potential protective factor has led to research showing that dispositional and/or situation-specific mindfulness predict differences in brain and neuroendocrine responses to challenging interactions that may help to explain mental health benefits. In my current work, I will extend these (correlational) findings with tests of how mindfulness training may shift mothers’ biobehavioral responses to their infant, and how this shift may mitigate intergenerational transmission of risk.
