Dr. Laura Glynn
Professor; Associate Dean for Research
Psychology, Crean College of Health and Behavioral Sciences
Expertise: Human Pregnancy; Fetal Programming; Human Milk and Breastfeeding; Postpartum Depression; Maternal Brain and Behavior; Maternal-Child Health
Office Location: Crean Hall, 544 N. Cypress Avenue
Office Hours: By appointment only.
- Education:
- University of California, Davis, Bachelor of Arts
University of California, San Diego, Master of Arts
University of California, San Diego, Ph.D.
Biography
Dr. Glynn's research consists of interdisciplinary programs examining the interplay
between biological, psychosocial and behavioral processes in human pregnancy and the
influences of these processes on fetal/child development. Her research in the realm
of maternal-child health covers three main areas: 1. Understanding the underlying
causes of premature birth, the most serious problem in maternal-child health and the
leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality in the United States. 2. Elucidating
how pre- and postnatal hormone exposures influence the female brain and behavior,
and also more specifically the quality of maternal behavior and postpartum depression.
3. Determining the role of very early life influences in fetal, infant and child development.
-
Recent Creative, Scholarly Work and Publications
- Liu SR, Lindert NG, Maxwell MY & Glynn LM (in press). Racism-related developmental origins of mental health: a conceptual model & scoping review. Nature Mental Health.
- Smith JA, Tain R, Chrisman I, Sharp K, Glynn LM, Van Dillen LR, Jacobs J, Cramer SC. Gray matter morphology and pain-related disability early in young adults with low back pain (2025). NeuroImage, 121227.
- Davis EP, Leonard BT, Jirsaraie RJ, Keator DB, Small SL, Sandman CA, Risbrough VB, Stern HS, Glynn LM, Yassa MA, Baram TZ, Rasmussen JM (2025). Sex-specific effects of early life unpredictability on hippocampal and amygdala responses to novelty in adolescents. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 100561.
- Srivastava SG, Sandman CA, Davis EP & Glynn LM (2025). Prenatal maternal mood instability and child externalizing problems: an ecological momentary assessment study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 119937.
- Aran O, Neveraz-Brewster M, D’Anna-Hernandez K, Dmitrieva J, Sandman CA, Glynn LM & Davis EP (2025). Associations between individual and structural level discrimination and psychological and physiological stress indicators during pregnancy. npj Women’s Health, 3, 52.
- Melnick EM, Deer LBK, Doom JR, Stern HS, Sandman CA, Glynn LM & Davis EPD (2025). Sex specific associations between early-life unpredictability and trajectories of body mass index from infancy to adolescence. Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine, 87, 642-651.
- Liu SR, Taylor Lucas C, Maxwell M, Lindert NG, Vargas VM, Cooper DM, Golden CV, Weiss MA & Glynn LM (2025). Provider and patient perspectives on pediatric screening for research on early life adversity. Health Education and Behavior, 52, 690-700.
- Smith JA, Tain R, Sharp KG, Glynn LM, Van Dillen LR, Jacobs JV & Cramer SC (2025). Abnormalities in sensorimotor brain function are related to chronicity of low back pain. NeuroImage, 325, 121651.
- Neverez-Brewster M, Demers CH, Irwin JL, Glynn LM, Styner MA, Haase MH, Hoffman MC, Pizzagalli DA, Hankin B & Davis EP (2026). Neonatal striatal volume is associated with infant anhedonia. Journal of Affective Disorders, 392, 120211.
- Sweiss EC, Berardi V, Davis EP, Sandman CA & Glynn LM (in press). Mom is developing too: preliminary evidence for reciprocal effects of infant sensory reactivity and maternal behavior. Development & Psychopathology.
- Savoca PW, Glynn LM, Fox MM, Richards MC & Callaghan B (2024). Interoception in pregnancy: implications for postpartum depression. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews.
- Savoca PW, Glynn LM, Fox MM, Richards MC & Callaghan B (2024). Exploring the impact of maternal early life adversity on interoceptive sensibility in pregnancy: implications for prenatal depression. Archives of Women’s Mental Health.
- Jenkins BN, Martin LT, Halterman JS, Moskowitz JT, Glynn LM, Tirakitsoontorn P, Kamath S, Kain ZN (2024). The role of positive affect in asthma control and symptom severity in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence.
- Marino JA, Davis EP, Glynn LM, Sandman CA & Hahn-Holbrook J (2024). Temporal relation between pubertal development and peer victimization in a prospective sample of US adolescents. Aggressive Behavior.
- Miklavcic JM, Paterson N, Hahn-Holbrook J & Glynn LM (2024). FADS genotype predicts polyunsaturated fatty human milk extracellular vesicles. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.
- Short AK, Weber R, Kamei N, Thai CW, Arora H, Mortazavi A, Stern HS, Glynn LM & Baram TZ (2024). Within-subject changes in methylome profile identify individual signatures of early-life adversity, with a potential to predict neuropsychiatric outcome. Neurobiology of Stress
- Irwin JL, Davis EP, Sandman CA, Baram TZ, Stern HS & Glynn LM (2024). Infant Hedonic/Anhedonic Processing Index (HAPI-Infant): Assessing infant anhedonia and its prospective association with adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal Affective Disorders.
- Glynn, L.M. (2024). Predictability can reduce the burden of adverse childhood experiences: policies to promote it. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
- Liu SR, Bailey NA, Romero-González S, Moors AC, Campos B, Davis EP & Glynn LM (2025). The QUIC-SP: A Spanish language tool assessing unpredictability in early life is linked to physical and mental health. PloS One.
- Glynn LM, Liu SR, Lucas CT & Davis EP (2024). Leveraging the science of early life predictability to inform policies promoting child health. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
- Howland MA & Glynn LM (2024). The future of intergenerational transmission research: a prospective, three-generation approach. Development and Psychopathology.