Current Projects
Current projects in our lab are generally focused on the biobehavioral implications of exposure to adversity in childhood, associations between parent and offspring mental health in childhood, and developing and evaluating programs to improve well-being in mother-childhood dyads who are going through difficult times. A few of our current projects include:
- Effectiveness study of the ABC Program: We are partnering with clinicians at Early Intervention Services at Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland to deliver two different versions of the ABC Program and see how they help children and their mothers. We are currently enrolling! If you're interested, please visit the ABC Study page of our website and fill out a brief survey to see if you are eligible.
- Pilot study of the ABC Program: We delivered ABC to a small sample of mothers and their children before and during the pandemic. Enrollment for this study is now complete and we are analyzing the data. Check back soon for updates!
- Stress, Eating, and Early Development Follow-Up Study: The Stress, Eating, and Early Development (SEED) Study examines the effects of prenatal stress and maternal weight gain on offspring mental and physical health. SEED has enrolled 180 women, recruited from the Maternal Adiposity, Metabolism, and Stress (MAMAS) study, a controlled trial of a mindfulness-based small-group intervention to reduce stress and prevent excess weight gain during pregnancy. These families have been part of the study for many years and have provided data on their physical and psychological health. Biological data has also been collected from children to better understand how their bodies respond to stress. In a project with Dr. Nicki Bush and the Bush Lab team, we recently collected data from women in 2021 (8 years after they participated in the pregnancy intervention) to understand how the pandemic was affecting them and their children.
- The Collaborative Approach to Examining Adversity and Building Resilience (CARE) Program. The CARE Program is funded by the California Governor's Office of Planning and Research, California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, Addressing Health Impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences through a Collaborative Precision Medicine Approach. A cross-disciplinary team of researchers from UCSF, UCSB, and Futures Without Violence are studying how to enhance resilience in children who have experienced adversity and whether children's stress biology improves when they participate in supportive interventions.