Choose Primary Mentors
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry
Director of Mental Health Services, Center for the Protection of Children
Brian Allen, Psy.D.
- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
Brian Allen (Pediatrics) (PT Track) Collaborators: Shenk, Lunkenheimer, Noll, Schreier. Dr. Allen conducts research on clinical intervention with CM populations, with a focus on how developmental science can be integrated into clinical practice to enhance the effectiveness of treatments. He is the PI on an NICHD-funded study examining the use of Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for maltreated youth and has conducted grant-funded research to examine the application of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for adopted children and the development and testing of an intervention for children with problematic sexual behavior. Hi is Co-I of the TCCMS Administrative Core. He is currently supervising a postdoctoral fellow in clinical psychology and has previously mentored one postdoc and 4 and pre doc interns in clinical psychology.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Learn to conduct and code parent-child interactions using the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System (DPICS) and Emotional Availability (EA) scales |
A randomized controlled trial for adopted children
|
| Learn about the design and conduct of randomized clinical trials, including data analytic procedures. |
A randomized controlled trial for adopted children
|
Relevant Publications
Other Skills
Grant writing, statistical analysis, writing of reports and papers, administration and scoring of measures of attachment security, measure development, treatment development.
Associate Professor of Educational Psychology
Carlomagno Panlilio, Ph.D.
- DP - Developmental Processes Track
Carlo Panlilio (EDPSY) (DP Track) Collaborators: Font, Lunkenheimer, Miyamoto, O’Sullivan, Schreier, Wadsworth. Dr. Panlilio’s research focuses on understanding the dynamic interplay between child maltreatment, context, and development, which shape individual differences in learning over time. More specifically, his published research explicates proximal developmental and learning processes impacted by early maltreatment experiences. He studies self-regulation and self-regulated learning, which mediate early adversity and later educational outcomes to identify malleable mechanisms for school-based intervention. He is co-PI on a Bainum Family Foundation grant to develop and test a trauma-sensitive curriculum aimed at improving pedagogical practice for early childhood educators. Dr. Panlilio currently mentors 3 doctoral students, has served on dissertation committees across disciplines, and served as a peer mentor for a current Doris Duke Fellow.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Learn how to conduct literature review on the intersection of education and developmental processes for students with a history of maltreatment | |
| learn how to collect data from educators, clean and organize data, and run basic analyses | |
| learn how to conceptualize and analyze longitudinal data using latent variable modeling |
Early adversity, motivation, and later academic achievement
|
| learn the application and model specification for finite mixture models |
Anxiety transmission through parent-child dyadic synchrony
|
Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Studies /
Department of Pediatrics (Joint Appointment)
Chad Shenk, Ph.D.
Track Lead PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
Training Tracks I am affiliated with:- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
Chad Shenk (HDFS, Pediatrics) (PT Track Lead). Collaborators: Allen, Connell, Dorn, Noll, Ram, Schreier, Shalev, Sliwinski. Dr. Shenk is a licensed clinical psychologist with specialty training in trauma exposure and behavioral interventions for the pediatric population. His basic science research centers on improving risk estimation methods in non-experimental designs and identification of putative intervention targets following exposure to child maltreatment. Together, this research identifies trajectories, biomarkers, and mechanisms of adverse health using a multiple levels of analysis approach (e.g., biological, behavioral, environmental). Dr. Shenk’s clinical trials research therefore centers on the optimization of behavioral interventions applied following exposure to child maltreatment by engaging identified targets and mechanisms more effectively. This program of research has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health and multiple institutional and foundational awards. Dr. Shenk’s current training opportunities involve working with T32 Fellows interested in researching contamination bias in prospective research on child maltreatment as well as observational methods for measuring and quantifying dynamic communication patterns as indicators of resilience to psychiatric disorders following exposure to child maltreatment (see Associated Projects below).
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Research Design, Risk Estimation | |
| Observational Methods, Dyadic Processes | |
| Epigenetics of Adverse Health | |
| Respiratory Sinus Arrythmia Change during TF-CBT |
Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Director: Child Maltreatment Solutions Network
Christian M. Connell, Ph.D.
Track Lead PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Training Tracks I am affiliated with:- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Christian Connell (HDFS) (PT, PADS Tracks and PADS Track Lead) Collaborators: Font, Crowley, Jackson, Noll. Dr. Connell’s research examines behavioral, health, and system-level outcomes of youth who have been maltreated or involved in child-serving systems (e.g., child welfare, mental health, juvenile justice), as well as the effectiveness of community-based interventions to ameliorate adverse outcomes associated with maltreatment and trauma. He is Co-I on the TCCMS DOC and has extensive experience in the use of integrated administrative data systems to examine risk and protective process associated with involvement in child welfare and related systems as well as the consequences of involvement on child and family wellbeing. Additional research examines the effects of exposure to traumatic events on child psychological functioning and efforts to enhance capacity for trauma-informed care within childserving systems. Prior to joining Penn State University in 2017, he served as co-director of Yale Psychiatry Department’s Division of Prevention and Community Research, and mentored 12 predoc psychology fellows, 15 postdoc fellows, and two junior faculty members during his time at Yale University. His research has been funded by NIMH, NIDA, ACF, SAMHSA/NCTSN, and state and local government agencies
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| PT Track | |
| learn about using administrative data to assess effects of services or treatments on child welfare and other outcomes |
DOC
Child Welfare Intervention Services Study
Various Projects from CT/RI
Child Welfare Data Lab
|
| PADS Track | |
| learn about using administrative data from child welfare and other systems to examine risks of child maltreatment or its effects on health and wellbeing |
DOC
Child Welfare Data Lab
|
| learn about using administrative data to assess effects of services or treatments on child welfare and other outcomes |
DOC
Child Welfare Intervention Services Study
Various Projects from CT/RI
|
| learn about conducting applied and evaluation research with state systems |
Child Welfare Data Lab
Various Projects from CT/RI
|
Other Skills
Experience with various analytic approaches (e.g., mixture modeling, survival analysis, propensity score methods).
Daniel Max Crowley
- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Max Crowley (HDFS) (PT, PADS Tracks) Collaborators: Connell, Hymel, Font, Lunkenheimer, Miyamoto, Noll, Schroeder, Shenk. Dr. Crowley directs the Evidence-to-Impact Collaborative, a center within the SSRI. that houses the PSU Administrative Data Accelerator in partnership with the College of Health and Human Development. He is also PI of the Center for Heathy Children’s Dissemination and Outreach Core. Dr. Crowley’s research focuses on (1) strengthening methods for conducting benefit-cost analyses of preventive strategies, (2) leveraging administrative child welfare and related data to understand the fiscal impact of interventions, and (3) facilitating evidence-based policy-making through strategic investments in preventive services for children and families. Dr. Crowley is the PI on grants from the NIDA, NICHD as well as the Annie E. Casey, Laura & John Arnold, WT Grant, Michael and Susan Dell, Robert Wood Johnson and Doris Duke Charitable Foundations. Dr. Crowley also oversees the Research-to-Policy fellowship program, along with Dr. Taylor Scott, that provides doctoral and postdoctoral trainees the opportunity to work directly with policy audiences. Dr. Crowley often provides testimony and briefs Congress on issues related to the impact and financing of prevention strategies. Dr Crowley is also faculty on the PAMT T32 (NIDA) and Big Data to Knowledge (NLM) T32 training awards a PSU and serves as external faulty for the Arizona State University Prevention Training Fellowship (NIDA).
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| PT Track | |
| Economic evaluation |
AHT Cost Effectiveness
Social Intelligence for Custodial Grandmothers, etc
|
| PADS Track | |
| learn about using administrative data from child welfare and other systems to examine risks of child maltreatment or its effects on health and wellbeing |
DOC
Child Welfare Data Lab
|
| learn about using administrative data to assess effects of services or treatments on child welfare and other outcomes |
DOC
Child Welfare Intervention Services Study
Various Projects from CT/RI
|
| learn about conducting applied and evaluation research with state systems |
Child Welfare Data Lab
Various Projects from CT/RI
|
Other Skills
Experience with various analytic approaches (e.g., mixture modeling, survival analysis, propensity score methods).
Associate Professor of Psychology
Associate Director: Child Maltreatment Solutions Network
Erika Lunkenheimer, Ph.D.
Track Lead DP - Developmental Processes Track
Training Tracks I am affiliated with:- BH - Biology & Health Track
- DP - Developmental Processes Track
Erika Lunkenheimer (PSY) (DP, BE Tracks and DP Track Lead) Collaborators: Allen, Buss, Panlilio, Jackson, Ram, Schreier. Dr. Lunkenheimer is an Associate Director of the CMSN focused on education and training of community engagement for PSU students in the CMAS minor. She examines parent-child relationship dynamics as risk and protective mechanisms in the development of self-regulation and psychopathology. Her specific areas of expertise include harsh parenting and CM risk, individual and dyadic neurobiological and behavioral regulatory processes, and dynamic time series analytic methods. She has been funded by NICHD, NIAAA, and the Institute of Educational Sciences. She is currently the Primary mentor to 7 predoc students and has one postdoc starting in Fall 2019.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| BE Track | |
| Learn how heart rate data is collected and analyzed |
PCIS
PRESH
|
| Learn analytic methods for time series data |
PCIS
PRESH
|
| DP Track | |
| Learn how heart rate data is collected and analyzed |
PCIS
PRESH
|
| Learn observational methods and coding for parent-child interactions |
PCIS
PRESH
|
| Learn how longitudinal research is conducted |
PCIS
PRESH
|
| Learn analytic methods for time series data |
PCIS
PRESH
|
Other Skills
Gaining content knowledge on family processes, regulatory processes, harsh and neglectful parenting, children's behavior problems
Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Hannah M. C. Schreier, Ph.D.
Track Lead BH - Biology & Health Track
Training Tracks I am affiliated with:- BH - Biology & Health Track
- DP - Developmental Processes Track
Hannah Schreier (BBH) (BE, DP Tracks and BE Track Lead) Collaborators: Allen, Font, Jackson, Lunkenheimer, Noll, Shalev, Smyth, Wadsworth, Shenk. Dr. Schreier’s research focuses on the influence of early adversity (experiences of CM; growing up in poverty) on child and adolescent chronic disease risk, especially immunological and metabolic risk markers. She is further interested in understanding the psychosocial pathways through which family and youth characteristics alter the impact of early adverse experiences on key physiological outcomes among youth. Dr. Schreier is MPI of the TCCMS Cohort Study. She is also the PI of an R01 from NHLBI investigating the impact of a coparenting intervention on parent and child cardiovascular disease risk.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| learn how child maltreatment and/or low SES impacts youth chronic disease risk and the role of family processes on adversity | |
| learn how social interventions can be used to actively improve youth health | |
| learn how to collect & process biological samples and learn about endocrine, metabolic, and immunological biomarkers | |
| learn how longitudinal research on child maltreatment is conducted including recruitment of participants, assessment and processing of biological and survey data related to psychosocial health with children and caregivers |
Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Mark T. Greenberg Early Career Professor for the Study of Children's Health and Development
Idan Shalev, Ph.D.
- BH - Biology & Health Track
Idan Shalev (BBH) (BE Track) Collaborators: Noll, Schreier, Shenk, Rose, Almeida, Buxton, Patterson, Ram, Sliwinski, Smyth. Dr. Shalev’s program of research is focused on mechanisms underpinning the biological embedding of stress, and their effects on health and aging. His research integrates the disciplines of molecular genetics, endocrinology, neurobiology and psychology. This systems approach integrates data sources across multiple levels of genomics, biomarkers and phenotypic data. As a Co-I on the TCCMS Cohort Study, he focuses on the effects of stress and maltreatment during early childhood. Dr. Shalev routinely provides training in his lab testing a host of biomarkers in blood, urine and saliva samples to elucidate biological embedding mechanisms in CM. His work has been funded primarily by NIH. He serves as a mentor for 3 predoc trainees in the NIA Pathways T32.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Collection techniques of biological material | |
| learn about laboratory processing of biological samples | |
| learn about various assays, including salivary cortisol, protein assessment and telomere length measurement |
Other Skills
The above training opportunities would require individuals to complete several lab training via CITI website (i.e., initial biosafety training, blood-borne pathogens etc.), as well as inclusion on the lab IBC and IRB protocols.
The Ken Young Family Professor for Healthy Children
Professor of Human Development and Family Studies
Director: Center for Safe and Healthy Children
Principal Investigator: NICHD P50 Capstone Center for Healthy Children
Jennie G. Noll, Ph.D.
- BH - Biology & Health Track
- DP - Developmental Processes Track
- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Dr. Noll, Program Director of Research (PDR, Primary Mentor), is a developmental psychologist and a Professor of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) in the College of Health and Human Development at Penn State. She currently directs Penn State’s CMSN and is PI of the P50 Capstone TCCMS. As PDT, Dr. Noll will be primarily responsible for coordinating the research efforts of the trainees, including identifying projects across participating faculty that fit and complement trainee interests, foster cross-collaborations, and support the realization of research products. For over 25 years, Dr. Noll has been conducting research to strengthen causal inference regarding the developmental and biologic impacts of CM through longitudinal, prospective research through continuous NIH funding. She has been the PI on grants aimed at discovering mechanisms that explain the association between CM and teen pregnancy and risky sexual behaviors (R01HD052533), abused females’ risk for sextrafficking through adolescent internet and social media behaviors (R01HD073130), cortisol dysregulation and allostatic load across development among abuse survivors (R03HD045346), and premature cognitive aging for adults at midlife who experienced childhood abuse (R01AG04879). She is also the PI on the longest ongoing prospective study of the developmental and intergenerational impacts of child sexual abuse that spans 3 decades and 4 generations (R01HD072468). As PI of the TCCMS (P50HD089922) she oversees and conducts cutting edge research on the role of biologic embedding of health disparities for abused and neglected youth, models of resilience, early detection of abusive head trauma, and predictive analytics of the public costs of maltreatment. In partnership with the PA Department of Human Services, she is the PI of a statewide controlled trial of a universal childhood sexual abuse prevention program that will reach 71,000 adults, 17,000 school-aged children, and 100% of atrisk parents in the child welfare system. She is President of APA’s Division 37 section on CM and is an American Psychological Society Fellow. Having been a T32 and K awardee herself, she brings ample mentoring experience as evidenced by the 40+ individuals she has mentored throughout her career including pediatric residents, Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows (SURF) students, graduate students, postdocs, K and F awardees, and junior faculty. Prior to her faculty appointment at Penn State, Dr. Noll was the Director of Research at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s Division of Behavioral Medicine where she facilitated the grant-related productivity of more than 20 faculty members. During her tenure as Director, the grant portfolio of the Division tripled to annual direct costs of almost $18 million. These experiences position her well to provide mentoring across multiple tracks as well as scientific oversight and administrative management of a complex training grant. In her role as PDR she will assist in the overall administration of the CMT32 and: (1) aid in the selection of trainees and trainee evaluation, (2) ascertaining trainee research interests and pairing trainees with mentoring team and research projects, (3) oversee research progress and productivity for all trainees (e.g., assure conference presentation, publication, and grant writing milestones are met), (4) coordinate the Ethics Seminar, (5) teach the grant writing seminars as part of her assigned teaching load in the Department of HDFS (HDFS 597), (6) coordinate the submission of grants submitted by trainees, and (7) help coordinate All Track Meetings and Within Track meetings. The PDR will also coordinate and conduct the Summer Institute.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Integrate multiple levels of analysis (biological, behavioral, family, social) in models of child wellbeing following CM |
FADS
|
| Longitudinal and intergenerational analyses of the long-term effects of CM (and sexual abuse in particular) |
FADS
|
| The impact of social media and Internet use on the wellbeing of kids (especially those who have experienced CSA) |
Other Skills
Direct contact with families via the CHS; Direct work on the CSA prevention trial with data acquisition with at-risk parents; may opportunities for innovative data analytic strategies eg cascade models across generations, machine-learning of URL and social media data, RCT designs and analyses, transdiagnostic mechanistic modeling, etc.
Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology
Sarah A. Font, Ph.D.
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Sarah Font (SOC) (PADS Track) Collaborators: Miyamoto, Connell, Schreier, Noll. Dr. Font is a Co-I of the TCCMS DOC and conducts research on the experiences and outcomes of children involved with the Child Protective Services and foster care systems. She is PI of a NICHD R01 focusing on innovative identification strategies for understanding the implications of various experiences within the foster care system for child health and wellbeing. Her work draws primarily on administrative data and prioritizes policy-relevant research questions. She has a postdoc who will start in Fall 2019.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| Complex data management (in SAS/Stata) |
Social & System Determinants of Foster Children's Health
|
| Engaging non-academic audiences |
Social & System Determinants of Foster Children's Health
|
| Methods for causal inference |
Social & System Determinants of Foster Children's Health
|
Other Skills
Grant writing, academic writing
Associate Professor, College of Nursing
Founder and Director: Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Telehealth (SAFE-T) Center
Sheridan Miyamoto, Ph.D.
- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Sheridan Miyamoto (NURS) (PT, PADS Tracks) Collaborators: Font, Panlilio, Schreier, Dorn, Crowley. Dr. Miyamoto’s program of research is focused on the deployment and testing of telehealth models to decrease disparities in the quality of care for victims of sexual assault in underserved communities. In collaboration with multidisciplinary network collaborators, she also studies the identification of commercial sexual exploitation of children known to child welfare agencies. She is the PI of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Telehealth (SAFE-T) Center, funded by the Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime. She has received grants from PCORI, NIH, Doris Duke Fellowship, and the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. She mentors 3 graduate students currently and has accepted a postdoc that will begin in Summer 2019.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| PT Track | |
| Learn about community-engaged research partnerships |
SAFE-T SANE (if funded)
Policy work conducted with RTP and with Sarah Font if we have follow-up to our trafficking study
|
| Learn about all of the elements of setting up a Center that delivers evidence-informed healthcare, research, evaluation and tech innovation |
SAFE-T Center-various projects
|
| Learn about forensic sexual abuse/assault care delivery |
SAFE-T Center forensic exam data
|
| PADS Track | |
| Learn about community-engaged research partnerships |
SAFE-T SANE (if funded)
Policy work conducted with RTP and with Sarah Font if we have follow-up to our trafficking study
|
| Learn about all of the elements of setting up a Center that delivers evidence-informed healthcare, research, evaluation and tech innovation |
SAFE-T Center-various projects
|
| SAFE-T has a dataset of forensic sexual assault cases and related data from key stakeholders, health outcomes, and judicial outcomes; Learn about evaluation research design- mixed methods approach to eval |
SAFE-T Center evaluation
|
Other Skills
The focus of what we are doing may vary at different times, but many elements of community-engagement; creating a business/sustainability case for the center involves evaluation, dissemination and policy work; and evaluation research that can be conducted with SAFE-T Center data.
Professor of Psychology
Associate Director: Child Maltreatment Solutions Network
Yo Jackson, Ph.D., ABPP
- BH - Biology & Health Track
- DP - Developmental Processes Track
- PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
- PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
Dr. Jackson, Program Director of Training (PDT Primary Mentor), is a professor in the Clinical Child Psychology Program and a board-certified clinical child psychologist with over 40 publications on CM. Her primary role will be to oversee and coordinate all aspects of the training program including providing administrative oversight of recruitment activities, contracts, budgeting, onboarding, evaluations, grievances, and remediation. She has served as the PI on two R01 grants (R01MH079252, R01 MH079252) on CM and has been a Co-I with Dr. Noll as PI of the Administration Core for P50 Capstone Center (TCCMS) for the past year. Her work focuses on modeling the mechanisms of resilience for youth exposed to CM and the development of interventions to address the intergenerational transmission of trauma. She has served as the research mentor for over 50 doctoral level clinical students and has served as the primary mentor for two F-award fellowships in the past 8 years and a post doc. Her students have won numerous awards as a result of her mentorship including NSF fellowships, Doris Duke CM fellowships, APA and APS student fellowships, dissertation awards, and over 20 internal university research awards. In addition to her extensive and successful mentoring, she has held several administrative and leadership positions, including serving on the Board of Directors for Division 53 (Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology) for the past 10 years, being an APA Fellow for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, serving as Chair of the Committee for Children, Youth and Families for APA and as Director of the Multicultural Scholars Program at the University of Kansas. She further oversaw the development of trainee competency evaluation for all students in the Clinical Child Psychology Program at the University of Kansas for over 10 years (for 50+ trainees), ensuring that pre- and postdoc students were trained to meet the needs of the field at a high standard. She has also served as a clinic director for over 12 years for a community training and outpatient clinic serving youth and families, supervising over 60 trainees. She is the Associate Director of the CMSN and is uniquely qualified to help direct the proposed training program. In her role as PDT she will oversee the administration of the grant: (1) coordinate recruitment, admissions and trainee evaluation, (2) lead the Professional Development Seminar and the CM Proseminar for the post docs, (3) provide oversight and coordinate as needed with mentors on training plans and intervene on training issues when needed, (4) review products of the trainees and coordinate evaluation of the training program, (5) coordinate All Track Meetings and attend Within Track meetings to ensure good program training integration and communication, (6) working with TLs to coordinate the teaching of HDFS 521a&b each semester and ensure trainee participation in Within Track and All Track meetings and (7) help coordinate the CMT32 Summer Institute. The PDT will coordinate policy activities (e.g., policy workshop) and will oversee community engagement projects.
Skills Fellows Learn in My Lab
| Skill | Associated Project |
|---|---|
| learn about longitudinal research in CM | |
| learn about the role of emotion regulation and adversity |
Other Skills
access to case file data and data on foster youth, program evaluation, trauma assessment
BH - Biology and Health Track
BH Track Lead – Hannah Schreier
Primary mentors – Hannah Schreier, Erika Lunkenheimer, Idan Shalev, Chad ShenkOne of the most important challenges for researchers focusing on the biology and health following CM experiences will be to better understand the complex ways in which multiple key physiological systems act in tandem to shape the lifelong health and well-being trajectories of CM survivors. A substantial literature already links CM to increased risk of many common chronic diseases of aging, behavioral well-being, and all-cause mortality later in life. In addition to research on distinct health problems, the field is also beginning to understand the ways in which CM alters some of the physiological mechanisms that, in the long run, may result in these increased morbidity and mortality rates. The CMT32 will provide trainees with the opportunity to study these very questions, including via the TCCMS prospective cohort study of 900 youth who experienced CM and matched comparison youth without a CM history and other R01/21 projects led by Program Faculty. Many Program Faculty are also interested in how youth’s psychosocial environments and experiences shape associations between CM experiences and health.
Primary and secondary mentors in the BH track have expertise in many areas of research, including, but not limited to:
- Neuroendocrine regulation (Dorn, Engeland, Schreier, Shalev, Wadsworth)
- Inflammation/immunity (Engeland, Schreier)
- Biological aging (Shalev, Shenk)
- Genetics/Epigenetics (Gould, Shalev, Vandenbergh)
- Metabolomics (Patterson)
- EEG collection (Buss, Gatzke-Kopp, Perez-Edgar)
- Autonomic nervous system activation (Buss, Gatzke-Kopp, Lunkenheimer, Wadsworth)
- General biomarkers of stress (Engeland, Schreier, Shalev, Smyth)
- Use of wearables/EMA (Almeida, Buxton, Smyth)
- Morbidity/mortality following CM (Almeida, Buxton, Gatzke-Kopp, Noll, Schreier, Shenk, Smyth)
Trainees may choose to focus on any (but not all!) of the above. Prior experience in these areas of research is not required. If desired, training in human subjects research and/or animal research and/or hands-on bench science will be provided as part of the T32 experience in associated laboratories.
DP - Developmental Processes Track
DP Track Lead – Erika Lunkenheimer
Primary mentors – Erika Lunkenheimer, Jennie Noll, Yo Jackson, Carlo Panilio, Hannah SchreierCM creates disruptions to the normative life course and contributes to failures to achieve skills or resolve key components of major developmental stages throughout the lifespan. These disruptions increase the likelihood that patterns of maladaptation, psychopathology, and other impairments due to CM will develop and persist, creating a cascade of negative sequelae for subsequent developmental stages. CM tends to recur over time, making a developmental approach to the timing and course of CM essential in understanding its effects. Accordingly, to improve scientific knowledge on CM, developmental scientists in the study of CM will work to model the process of CM incidence, the cascading effects of stage-salient disruptions, and the heterogeneic variation in pathways of CM with appropriate developmental theoretical frameworks and sufficient ecological and measurement validity. Examples of integrative, emerging research areas within the context of development that the CMT32 will provide include having trainees participate in projects (such as the TCCMS Cohort Study) on the systemic longitudinal effects of CM on caretaker-child relations, the intergenerational transmission of trauma and maltreatment within families, the nature and scope of heterotypic development in youth exposed to CM, and the potential moderating or mediating effects of services and community factors; all of which require a developmental lens to better understand the impact of CM on the developing child and his/her environment.
PT - Prevention and Treatment Track
PT Track Lead – Chad Shenk
Primary Mentors – Chad Shenk, Yo Jackson, Brian Allen, Kent Hymel, Jennie Noll, Sheridan Miyamoto, Christian ConnellThe Prevention and Treatment Track provides innovative training in child maltreatment interventions across preventive and treatment settings. Trainees will receive instruction in: 1) well-established child maltreatment interventions, including the Nurse-Family Partnership, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), 2) identifying and engaging intervention targets across multiple levels of analysis (e.g. biology, behavior, family, community ) within the experimental therapeutics framework, and 3) executing gold-standard as well as innovative methods for evaluating child maltreatment interventions, including randomized clinical trials, factorial designs, and sequential multiple assignment randomized trials. Extending beyond the classroom, trainees will work on projects that include partnerships with the State of Pennsylvania on the testing and dissemination of a prevention program aimed at reducing actual cases of alleged and substantiated child sexual abuse, the optimization of treatments for mental health disorders by evaluating the effectiveness of individual components in engaging transdiagnostic mechanisms of comorbid disorders, novel applications of PCIT and TF-CBT to improve child and family outcomes, and program evaluation with County and State administrative data to identify cost-effective preventive strategies for families at risk for child maltreatment. Extensive collaboration across the training tracks will allow for a transdisciplinary perspective designed to speed translation of research findings from one track to the settings where children who have been maltreated most often access care.
PADS - Policy and Administrative Data Systems Track
PADS Track Lead – Christian Connell
Primary Mentors – Christian Connell, Sarah Font, Max Crowley, Sheridan MiyamotoChildren impacted by CM and their families are frequently involved in myriad of systems including child welfare, physical and behavioral health care, juvenile and adult corrections, education, and other public systems. This complexity requires that CM researchers develop expertise in systems-focused research methodologies that leverage complex and integrated administrative data systems to elucidate individual, family, and contextual processes leading to maltreatment exposure and its effects, provide more accurate means of detection and prediction of adverse outcomes, and also provide a means of empirically testing the efficacy of treatment and intervention response to maltreatment.90-92 These advances are critical to developing more effective evidence-based policies and practices to prevent CM or ameliorate its negative effects on children and youth. The T32 will provide trainees with a range of opportunities to develop expertise in these methods. Participating faculty have extensive experience in the use of administrative data to conduct rigorous, policy-relevant research across child welfare and other public systems. Trainees will engage in the design and conduct of research using complex integrated and administrative data through active research projects with core faculty via the TCCMS and other R-level projects. Trainees will have access to a wide range of local, state, and national administrative data systems maintained in the Penn State Administrative Data Accelerator including child welfare systems, health care, juvenile justice and corrections, and other child and family serving systems.