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Research
Focus
Neuroimaging in Pregnancy
Perinatal Psychiatry
Menopause
Sex Differences
Mapping the Brain Across Pregnancy
Recent groundbreaking studies have revealed that pregnancy shapes the brain. Our work seeks to delineate how brain structure and function change across the gestational window as well as the mechanisms underlying these changes. In pursuit of these answers, we leverage multi-modal neuroimaging, clinical data science, precision functional mapping, and imaging-transcriptomics. To learn more about how to participate in our studies on this topic, click here.
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Perinatal Psychiatry
The TReNDS Lab leverages cutting-edge data science techniques to personalize early interventions across the female reproductive lifespan including puberty, pregnancy, and menopause.
Mental health conditions are a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths. Our work takes two complementary approaches to studying mechanisms underlying risk for psychiatric symptoms during pregnancy and the postpartum: 1) we combine the power of computational data science techniques with the massive data resource of the electronic health record and 2) we conduct prospective, longitudinal cohort studies with deeply characterized samples. To learn more about how to participate in our studies on this topic, click here.
Menopausal Cognitive and Mood Symptoms
During the menopause transition, many women report new or worsening cognitive and mood symptoms. Our work in this area, including two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trials, has led to novel treatment options for women with such symptoms. Ongoing work focuses on identifying predictors of menopause-related cognitive and mood symptoms and response to estrogen therapy in an effort to optimize early treatment response.
Sex Differences and Developmental Psychopathology
Sex differences in psychiatric disorders are well established and frequently emerge during development, but the mechanisms underlying such differences are not well defined. Using network science and machine learning, we seek to 1) understand how sex steroid hormones shape the brain during puberty and 2) link sex differences in personalized brain metrics to psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and depression.
