I research how stress physiology and nutrient metabolism interact early in life to influence mental and physical health.

Bio

I am a research investigator funded by a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from NICHD at the Miriam Hospital and the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

I completed my postdoctoral training in Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University with Dr. Laura Stroud and in collaboration with the Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Initiative. I received my B.S. in Design & Environmental Psychology from Cornell University and my M.A. in Design & Environmental Psychology with a focus in International Nutrition and Child Development from Cornell University. I received my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Minnesota, where I worked with Drs. Megan Gunnar and Michael Georgieff, funded by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Research

I am a developmental psychobiologist. My research focuses on how social experiences during critical developmental periods shape health and behavior, and the physiological mechanisms that may mediate these effects. I combine behavioral paradigms with physiology, nutrition, and computational approaches to develop a mechanistic account of development in populations historically excluded from psychology research. I aim to identify for whom and when interventions may be most effective, and the psychophysiological mechanisms that promote resilient mental and physical health. Given that an experience-driven outcome may be adaptive in one context but maladaptive in another, my work also considers the role of context in adaptation and maladaptation.

I examine cognitive, affective, and physical domains to answer my research questions:

1. Which early experiences shape neurobehavioral development and/or physical health?

2. Which physiological mechanisms underpin these experience-driven development outcomes?

3. How do experiences, physiology, and context interact to produce healthy, resilient, or maladaptive outcomes?

This research focuses on how the developing brain and body mobilize resources and make physiological adaptations to experiences in the first years of life (e.g. prenatal maternal stress, neighborhood deprivation, caregiving adversity, disrupted nutritional states). In this work, I have demonstrated how core developmental experiences early in life, including caregiving and nutritional adversity, become biologically embedded to shape development and influence later self-regulation, behavior, health, and risk for psychopathology. My ongoing work integrates advanced statistical approaches to identify new mechanisms of psychophysiology in development. I use these approaches to predict individual neurodevelopment and health trajectories while there is time to intervene effectively.

CONTACT

Email: brie_reid [at] brown.edu