Andrea Roberts, PhD, MPH
Senior Research Scientist
aroberts@hsph.harvard.edu
Dr. Roberts’ research focuses on mental health, including causes and consequences of autism, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. She also studies psychological, behavioral, and physical health outcomes of trauma and stress, including PTSD, depression, intimate partner violence, and health-risk behaviors. She is particularly interested in the effects of trauma on health across generations.
Dr. Roberts is principal investigator of an NIH-funded study seeking to understand why children of women exposed to childhood abuse exhibit increased risk for a wide array of neurodevelopmental deficits, including anxiety, depression, autism, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study will examine biological dysregulation during pregnancy in hormonal function and immune function. Dysregulation in these biological systems is known to harm offspring neurodevelopment and is present in adults who have experienced childhood abuse, yet it is largely unknown whether dysregulation in these systems occurs during the pregnancies of women exposure to abuse. The study has also examined whether women who experienced abuse carry higher genetic risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, using polygenic risk scores. We found higher genetic loading for major depression, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, neuroticism, and ADHD in women exposed to childhood abuse, compared with those unexposed, with particularly strong associations with genetic risk for ADHD (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-020-00996-w).
Dr. Roberts is principal investigator of a related study to determine whether women who have experienced childhood abuse are at greater risk of COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors during pregnancy than women with no history of abuse. Stressors during pregnancy have been associated with offspring neurodevelopmental health.
