I am an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and Research and Evaluation Director of the Behavioral Health & Wellness Program. I also direct both the Clinical Research Support Services Core and the Small Grant Program housed within Psychiatry Research Innovations.

My research portfolio spans both basic psychological science and applied community-based research and evaluation. I work across multiple states to oversee strategic development of sustainable research and program evaluation initiatives. I am also a certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist.

In my work as a behavioral scientist, I apply principles of evolutionary medicine, psychology, and psychiatry to the study of individual differences in human health and development.

Areas of interest include developmental psychobiology, behavioral endocrinology, behavioral health, addiction, and biometrical genetics. In particular, I am interested in effects of early childhood adversity on physical and neuropsychological development, how developmental trajectories in response to early adversity differ across individuals (including sex-specific effects), and how a better understanding of stress-mediated development may inform intervention efforts with children and families.

I also direct community-based research and evaluation projects with the goal of implementing, testing, and evaluating innovative and evidence-based strategies to support healthy behavior change. Projects are implemented both locally and nationally within behavioral health and integrated care clinics, hospitals, criminal justice systems, and other organizations or agencies serving vulnerable populations. Areas of focus include tobacco cessation, chronic disease prevention, health disparities, nutrition and physical activity, healthy sleep strategies, stress management, and family interventions.

I have been fortunate in my career to work with colleagues conducting sophisticated research on a broad range of human wellness topics, but I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to bring my research skills to bear in a more applied setting. When it comes to disseminating results and discoveries from academic research, I believe there often exists a gap between the “ivory tower” and the societal organizations that are in the best positions to utilize such information. It is a joy and a privilege to be part of a program committed to closing that gap!