Emily Falk is an Associate Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Marketing at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Falk employs a variety of methods drawn from communication science, neuroscience and psychology. Her work traverses levels of analysis from individual behavior, to diffusion in group and population level media effects. In particular, Prof. Falk is interested in predicting behavior change following exposure to persuasive messages and in understanding what makes successful ideas spread (e.g. through social networks, through cultures). Prof. Falk is also interested in developing methods to predict the efficacy of persuasive communication at the population level. At present, much of her research focuses on health communication, including recent work exploring neural predictors of increased sunscreen use, neural predictors of smoking reduction, and linking neural responses to health messages to population level behavioral outcomes; other areas of interest include political communication, cross-cultural communication, and the spread of culture, social norms and sticky ideas. Prof. Falk received her bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

My program of research involves applying basic science findings on mindfulness, maternal-child health, parent-child relationships, and developmental processes to the design of intervention programs that integrate contemplative practices with prevention science strategies. My goal is to systematically investigate the efficacy and real-world effectiveness of these interventions among diverse populations with attention to contextual factors, psychological function, and biological mechanisms of action. I pursue opportunities to create programs that may improve upon ‘gold standard’ prevention approaches while capitalizing on existing, national dissemination networks. I use this strategy in an effort to maximize the potential public health impact of the interventions while also reducing the typical time lag between positive trial results and evidence-based changes in clinical and educational practice guidelines. My recent focus has been on: a) investigating the neural and behavioral outcomes of prenatal delivery of Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting, and b) supporting leadership among women of color, to both address major issues with the cultural relevance of our approaches in this field, and to build our understanding of how contemplative practices may support health equity and reduce health disparities experienced by children, families, and communities.

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.