About Dr. Sullivan

I am a postdoctoral scientist at the Intergenerational Developmental Health Program at the University of California San Francisco. I study the resilience-promoting power of parenting in supporting child physical and mental health, particularly in children exposed to adversity. Decades of research have shown that exposure to early life stress and adversity has a long-lasting impact on children. This stress exposure increases their risk for future health problems. However, my research shows that parenting interventions, such as Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Child-Parent Psychotherapy, may protect children from this “biological embedding” of stress and promote their long-term health. 

In addition to conducting research, I am also trained as a child clinical psychologist with specialization in trauma-informed evidence-based treatments for children exposed to stress, with a focus on parenting interventions. I obtained my PhD in Clinical and Developmental Psychology at the University of Vermont and completed my clinical internship at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).  

At the University of Vermont, I conducted research on how positive parenting supports parent and child well-being in families exposed to different kinds of stress (e.g., parental depression, parental opioid use, children in foster or kinship care, child trauma exposure), with mentorship from Drs. Rex Forehand and Annie Murray-Close. My parenting intervention research and clinical experience demonstrate how powerful and effective parenting interventions can be for families. This project culminated in a recent publication in Psychological Science Journal, wherein I provide evidence that, among children exposed to elevated stress, increases in positive parenting practices related to slower biological aging. Findings have been disseminated broadly, including via the Association for Psychological Science’s podcast, Under the Cortex.

Now, as a postdoctoral researcher at UCSF, I am deepening my knowledge of the biological processes explaining how stress, including that occurring before a child is born, gets under children’s skin. I am also delving deeper into investigating the potential for interventions to alter these biological pathways and promote health. I am training in team-science approaches to answering questions using epidemiological datasets. While I love collaborating with skilled data scientists, I frequently use tools such as R and Mplus to test statistical models. I work closely with leading health psychologists and clinical researchers in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Health and Community. With mentorship from Dr. Nicole Bush, I have participated in several multidisciplinary research projects, including ECHO and ECHO PATHWAYS. I welcome the opportunity to connect and discuss potential collaborations.