BABL News

Spring 2024

• BABL postdoctoral associate Dr. Clíona Kelly was the recipient of the 2024 Kavli Postdoctoral Award for Academic Diversity for her project investigating mother-infant interactions combining immersive virtual reality and EEG. Congratulations Clíona!

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Fall 2023

• The BABL is excited to welcome our new members, postdoctoral associate Dr. Clíona Kelly, PhD student Daniel McGlade, Masters students Maisha Hossain and Zoe Howell, undergraduate student Julia Sulkowski, and postgraduate research associates Michèle Day and Amorine Adodo! We're so happy to have you all!

• The BABL received a new NICHD R21 grant titled Social Connectedness in the Transition to Parenthood: Implications for Parent and Child Health and Well-Being with Dr. Katherine Nelson-Coffey.

• PhD student Kathryn Wall was awarded a Yale Women's Faculty Forum Seed Award to support her work on understanding barriers faced by women participating in maternal neuroscience research. 

 

Summer 2023

• The BABL received a new NICHD R01 grant titled Neural mechanisms of psychological risk on mother and infant adjustment in African American and European American families with Dr. Ashley Groh.

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Spring 2023

• Postdoctoral fellows Dr. Francesca Penner and Dr. Tal Yatziv completed their postdoctoral positions in the Yale Child Study Center this spring/summer. Dr. Penner will be joining Baylor University as an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department and Dr. Yatziv will be joining Ben-Gurion University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology. Congratulations both, we are so proud of you!

• Masters students Rachel Shin and Josephine Levy completed their MRes in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology. Both Rachel and Josephine will be staying with the BABL as postgraduate research associates. Congratulations both, we're so excited to continue working with you!

• BABL undergraduate students Brooke Casey (Yale '23) and Michèle Day (University of New Haven '23) completed their bachelors degrees. Congratulations Brooke and Michèle!

• BABL PhD Student Kathy Ayala completed her qualifying exam this semester. Congratulations on this major accomplishment Kathy!

• PhD Student Kathryn Wall was awarded an NIH F31 to complete her dissertation research on maternal and environmental substance exposure effects on child development. 

• Postgraduate Research Associate Victoria Hart-Derrick was given the Elizabeth A. Klonoff Award the Diversifying Clinical Psychology Conference. Well done Victoria!

• BABL Postdoc Dr. Li Yan McCurdy was awarded the Yale Mentoring Award for postdoctoral scholars. Congratulations Dr. McCurdy, very well deserved!

• Postdoctoral Associate Dr. Winnie Orchard was awarded a Yale Women's Faculty Forum Seed Award to support her work on understanding experiences of cognitive change in early motherhood. 

 

Fall 2022

• BABL postdoctoral associate Dr. Winnie Orchard, cognitive neuroscientist and 2022 Graduate Education Scholar, represented this year's American Australian Association scholar cohort at the annual Benefit Dinner. With support from the American Australian Association scholarship, Winnie is a Postdoctoral Associate with a joint appointment at The Before and After Baby Lab and the Department of Psychology. Congratulations Winnie, we're proud to have you!

 

Spring 2022​

• Postdoctoral associate Dr. Tal Yatziv has been awarded the Kavli Postdoctoral Fellowship to support her research on the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting caregiving and their emergence across the perinatal period.

• Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Francesca Penner was awarded a Yale Women's Faculty Forum seed grant to better understand emotion regulation during pregnancy.

• Associate Research Scientist Dr. Amanda Lowell was awarded a Pathways Research Award from Alkermes Pharmaceuticals, which will allow her to study the maternal brain pre- and post- Mothering from the Inside Out program to see what neural mechanisms might underlie response to treatment in mothers with addictions

• PhD student Kathryn Wall has had three poster presentation acceptances this semester. She will present at the Labroots Neuroscience conference on "LPP and parenting in at-risk postpartum mothers: a latent profile analysis", Yale Bouchet Conference on Diversity and Graduate Education on "Racial disparities in EEG methodology and their implications for our understanding of the maternal brain", and Harvard Med's New England Science Symposium on "Current substance use and familiarity effects on maternal neural responses to infant faces and cries".

 

Fall 2021

• Our own Kathryn Wall and alumni Sarah Peoples presented at the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology conference in Chicago! Kathryn presented on the “Dimensional assessment of maternal substance use and associations with neural responses to infant faces” and Sarah presented on “The effects of prenatal stress on neural responses to infant cries in expectant mothers and fathers.” We are so proud of you both!

• The BABL is excited to welcome Kathleen to the lab as part of the UCL M.Res in Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, and Li Yan McCurdy, a postdoctoral fellow!

• Our Parenting and Addiction Study (POD) is up and running!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 2021

• The BABL is excited to welcome Deanna and Kathryn to the lab for their Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (INP) rotation! Hana and Sarah have been conducting practice runs for the Parenting and Addiction Study (POD), with hopes to begin seeing participants soon!

• Nick is heading off to Charleston to attend the Medical University of South Carolina! We are so proud of you and will miss you here at the BABL!

 

Winter 2020

• We are excited to welcome Dana to the lab! Dana is an undergraduate student in her sophomore year interested in the neurobiological changes that occur in both children and their parents during early childhood and how these changes may affect later behavior, including parenting.

• Tal will be co-chairing and presenting (virtually) at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting in April! Tal will be presenting on Parental Mentalizing Under Stress: COVID-19 and Parents’ Use of Mental State Language on Parenting Social Media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2020

• Cody and Madi have begun their graduate school studies! Cody is earning his Master's at American University in Terrorism and Homeland Security Policy. Madi is a Ph.D  student at the Stanford Graduate School of Education in the Developmental and Psychological Sciences program. Good luck to you both! We are also excited to welcome Eloise to the lab, she is a Master's student interested in studying the effects of maternal anxiety on behavioral aspects of parenting!

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Summer 2020

With everything that's been going on, the BABL has continued to stay in touch with one another virtually--some of us are pictured here gathering for a farewell to Cody, who is leaving the BABL to pursue a Masters degree in Washington, D.C.!





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• Emily graduated from Yale Medical School! We are so proud of you, and know you will do great things in your pediatric residency, Dr. Vancor! 

• Congratulations to all of our graduating Yale college students, Hana, Katherine, and Corine--we will miss you, and can't wait to hear about all that you'll accomplish next! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 2020

• Madi presented a virtual poster at the 2020 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting on the influence of caregiving experience on maternal neural responses to baby faces!

• Helena gave pediatric Grand Rounds remotely for the Department of Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at Darmouth-Hitchock on understanding maternal addiction using a neuroscience-informed approach!

• Helena presented a webinar titled "Bridging Brain and Behavior: Addiction and Parenting" to the NIDA workgroup on sex/gender differences and women's health.

• The BABL welcomes two new members -- Tal, a postdoctoral associate, and Laura, a visiting member!

• Hana presented her undergraduate thesis to friends and peers at Davenport College.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall 2019

• The BABL welcomes our new students - Sarah and Katherine!

• Sarah presented her master's thesis proposal! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer 2019​​

• Madi presented some of the BABL's research at this year's NeuroDay conference at Yale!

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• Visiting member Michele Giannotti is welcomed into the lab!

• Heartiest congratulations to Gwen and Lauren, our masters students, on completing their masters thesis poster and presentation. Lauren will be staying on with the BABL team and Gwen will be moving back home to Singapore to begin her PhD! We are so proud of your work here at the BABL and will miss you dearly next year!

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• Karina presented some of the BABL's research at the T32 poster session here in the Child Study Center.

• Visiting summer intern Amanda Simard is welcomed into the lab!

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Spring 2019

• Cody presented some of the BABL's research at a postgraduate poster session here in the Child Study Center!​

• Visiting member Dr. Antonin Sebela is welcomed into the lab!

• Heartiest congratulations to Sarah, one of our undergraduate research assistants, on completing her senior thesis poster and presentation. We are so proud of your work here at the BABL and will miss you dearly next year!​

• At this year's SRCD conference, Lucy presented her poster on prenatal attachment and postpartum parental reflective functioning, and Helena gave talks on maternal emotion regulation and neural responses to infant faces.

 

Winter 2018/2019

• Cody and Gwen presented research posters at the 2019 NEURON Conference at Quinnipiac University. Pictured on left is Gwen and pictured on right is Cody. They, as well as other members in the lab, had a great time hearing from Dr. Nim Tottenham, the conference keynote speaker, and learning about other research going on in the neuroscience world!​

• Emily presented a poster on her work on maternal anxiety and depression at The Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation National Medical Student Conference!​

• Amanda was awarded the prestigious T32 research fellowship for the NIDA T32 Research Training Program in Substance Abuse Prevention! She will continue her work in The BABL as part of this mechanism. Congratulations, Amanda!

• Research coordinator Kimberly and visiting member Dr. Aline Cho are welcomed into the lab!

Fall 2018

• Lucy presented her research at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry annual meeting.

• The BABL welcomes our new students - Corine, Gwen, Hana, Lauren, and Sarah!

• Visiting member Dr. Karen Milligan is welcomed into the lab!

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Summer 2018

• Postgraduate associates Cody and Madison are welcomed into the lab!

• The BABL receives a federal grant from NIDA to study reward processing in mothers and fathers.