Alexandra (Allie) Sullivan, PhD

This is my Intergenerational Developmental Health Program--it brings together the expertise of researchers, care providers, community groups, advocates, & policymakers working to improve child & family wellbeing. IDHP strives to develop pipelines of reciprocal learning/translation devhealth.ucsf.edu

Trauma or Toxic? A Deep Dive into the Impact of Stress on Kids’ Health UCSF researchers found evidence that stress occurring as early as before birth or as late as adolescence can affect multiple conditions in kids, from asthma to mental health to cognitive functioning.

Excited to share this Annual Review synthesizing 75+ yrs of research (150+ studies) on stress effects--from pregnancy through adolescence--on children’s mental, physical, social, and functional health. This review fills a critical gap & finds pervasive stress effects. www.ucsf.edu/news/2026/01...

👀 Fantastic new review of disparate literature on stress & development across cog, emo and phys domains. "Early Life Stress Effects on Children's Biology, Behavior, & Health: Evidence, Mediators, Moderators, & Solutions"

@nicolebushphd.bsky.social @alliesullivan.bsky.social & Amanda Noroña-Zhou

Thank you so much. I personally vetted every empirical article we cited 🫠

Trauma or Toxic? A Deep Dive into the Impact of Stress on Kids’ Health UCSF researchers found evidence that stress occurring as early as before birth or as late as adolescence can affect multiple conditions in kids, from asthma to mental health to cognitive functioning.

Very proud to share this Annual Review synthesizing 75+ years of research across 150+ studies on how stress, starting as early as the prenatal period, shapes children’s health across systems. This is the first review to center interdisciplinary pediatric outcomes.
www.ucsf.edu/news/2026/01...

A line grant showing new and competitive renewal awards made by NIH is fiscal year 2026 compared to 2021-2025. The line for fiscal year 2026 is very close to zero.

My (now) weekly update on 2026 NIH funding.

New and competitive renewal awards.

3 new awards (compared to ~100 expected based on recent years).

No new ICs... still just NIA, NINDS, NIDCD, and NIDCR.

1/2

Ron Dahl developmental psychologist in front of a slide on relationships.

Thank you Dr Ron Dahl for highlighting the importance of early and adolescent relationships essential for healthy adults! Wonderful UCSF Psychiatry Grand Rounds.

The average SNAP benefit per month is $177 a person.

The average ACA benefit per month is up to $550 a person.

People want us to hold the line for a reason. This is not a matter of appealing to a base. It’s about people’s lives.

And working people want leaders whose word means something to them.

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Home Page - The Heckman Equation

Very cool interdisciplinary website - invest early in child health
heckmanequation.org

a man in a suit and tie has the word question written on his chest ALT: a man in a suit and tie has the word question written on his chest

psychology & psychiatry colleagues: Has anyone ever harmonized data from the CESD and the CESDR? Can you point me to a paper?

findhelp.org by findhelp - Search and Connect to Social Care Search and connect to support. Find financial assistance, food pantries, medical care, and other free or reduced-cost help in your area, anywhere in the US.

helpful directory to guide connecting patients with resources to address basic needs, like housing, food insecurity, and baby supplies: findhelp.org

Thanks Ryan! I’m glad to be here.

💡 I'm looking forward to contributing to next week's Science for Society webinar all about the science of stress and stress management!

Join us for an overview of best practices in stress measurement, the evidence base for stress management interventions, and critical research on weight stigma.

Allie D. W. Sullivan, PhD | Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Discover insights by Alexandra D. W. Sullivan, PhD, a researcher and clinician, on how stress and parenting influence child health and development.

I’m thrilled to share that I’ve officially started my new role as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at UCSF.
I feel incredibly fortunate to continue my work advancing research at the intersection of parenting, stress, & child health.
dralexandrasullivan.com

Hey everyone,

Been quiet about this, but I had to give up my home of 13 years this week. Can’t go back to work until August & between moving expenses, medical bills & car repairs, I’m out of money. I need help to get by the next 2 months & be able to report.

Donation links below. Anything helps.

30 seconds of Adonis biscuit time for you

Alfred wearing a pink blazer and holding a big trans flag on a pole in downtown San Francisco

San Francisco Trans March had lots of people this year! Marched with Asian Pacific Islander organization Lavender Phoenix,
lavenderphoenix.org 💜🐦

Scaling a Brief Digital Well-Being Intervention (the Big Joy Project) and Sociodemographic Moderators: Single-Group Pre-Post Study Background: Emotional well-being interventions lead to better mental and physical health. However, most of these interventions have been tested on relatively homogeneous samples, with few intervention...

New paper out in @jmirpub.bsky.social

Scaling a brief digital well-being intervention (the Big Joy Project) and sociodemographic moderators.

We explored how a 7-day digital intervention impacted well-being across 17,000+ participants worldwide.

www.jmir.org/2025/1/e72053

Moving into low-poverty neighborhoods may relate to lower health problems (as indicated by improvements in asthma symptoms). doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.6488

Over 100 arrested tonight in SF protesting ICE! Head to 425 7th St, San Francisco, CA 94103 for jail support! Please support Bay Area Anti Repression Committee for bail support!

We've been kettled and are all being detained.

Protesters are still kettled Sounds like pregnant women may still be in there too. Press was released, and (some) minors Are you in there? Are you safe? I am fine

Being processed now it sounds like from the messages l've received Just want to make sure people know Sorry to clarify, you're not there but your husband is? Are they being arrested? They were trying to leave and disperse (per SFPD orders), and then the cops essentially blocked the way My husband is in the kettle. I am not, I am receiving periodic messages from him and scouring Bluesky for content to know more I received a message at 10:09 pt saying that processing is now happening

Just got a tip that citizens, including pregnant women and minors, are still being kettled and processed by SFPD. This was after they tried to follow SFPD orders to disperse and got kettled anyway.

As if SFPD doesn’t have enough lawsuits to worry about, now they’re mass arresting protestors. As in 2020, very few if any charges will even stick.

🚨 SFPD has protestors and press kettled 🚨

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Spread 👏🏼 the 👏🏼 word 👏🏼

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Build-a-Bench Workshop sign up sheet Want to learn how to build a bench and help build some? Sign up to participate in a hands-on bench-building workshop led by experienced bench builders. The workshop is Saturday May 17th & Sunday the...

Come build benches this weekend, near Emeryville/North Oakland, 5 minute bike from MacArthur BART. No experience needed! Especially looking for people willing to bike and help install benches, Sunday afternoon--the most exciting part!
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...