Logo for the COBRE Center for Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) Nurturing resiliency through innovation and community

Childhood stress and trauma deeply affect lifelong health. It’s a critical issue demanding innovative research and interventions.

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We aim to mitigate these impacts, focusing on health inequities in marginalized groups. We support early career researchers to uncover risk and resilience mechanisms and develop interventions to improve health outcomes.

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  • Funded Projects

    Helping early career researchers achieve independent funding.

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  • Administrative Core

    Manages operations and offers career development for junior investigators.

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  • Community Collaborative Core

    Fosters partnerships, advises on recruitment, and supports social justice initiatives.

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  • Technology, Assessment, Data, and Analysis Core

    Provides expertise in technology, design, analysis, and statistics.

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Pioneering Research on Childhood Stress, Trauma, & Health Inequities

We established the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for Stress, Trauma, and Resilience at The Miriam Hospital to serve as a regional and national hub for transformative research that will elucidate and mitigate the lasting imprint of childhood stress and trauma on health across the lifespan.

We have a particular focus and interest in health inequities in minoritized and marginalized groups.

Our goal is to support the development of a diverse group of early career researchers to emerge as leading STAR investigators focused on discovering, across a range of adversities, the proximal and distal mechanisms of risk and resilience in order to rapidly develop novel and actionable intervention targets to improve health.

News & Events

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News & Events 〰️

STAR Spotlight

RESEARCH PROJECT LEADS
Chrystal Vergara-Lopez, PhD
Chrystal Vergara-Lopez, PhD

Dr. Vergara-Lopez’s program of research investigates neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to psychopathology and substance use. She aims to identify markers of risk and resilience to help deter the drastic increase in rates of psychopathology and substance involvement observed during key developmental life phases.

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Nina Ayala, MD, ScM
Nina Ayala, MD, ScM

Dr. Ayala’s research and clinical expertise focuses on leveraging interventions to alter resilience to improve perinatal mental health and patient-reported outcomes.

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Karen Jennings Mathis, PhD, APRN-CNP, PMHNP-BC
Karen Jennings Mathis, PhD, APRN-CNP, PMHNP-BC

Dr. Jennings Mathis’s program of research focuses on the link between stress and eating disorders psychopathology within Black populations with a focus on discrimination and intersectionality, to enhance evidence-based assessments and interventions with integrated cultural factors.

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PILOT PROJECT LEADS
Darlynn Rojo-Wissar, PhD, MPH
Darlynn Rojo-Wissar, PhD, MPH

Dr. Rojo-Wissar’s research examines the relationship between early life adversity, parent-child bonding, sleep, and health across the lifespan. She hopes her research will lead to community-based interventions that support families with young children.

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Sharon Lee, PhD
Sharon Lee, PhD

Dr. Lee’s research is focused on biobehavioral mechanisms that link trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder with cardiovascular disease risk.

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Carly Goldstein, PhD
Carly Goldstein, PhD

Dr. Goldstein’s research program aims to optimize digital health for prevention, secondary prevention, and interventions for cardiovascular disease and other complex medical conditions.

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FACULTY RECRUITS
Shaquanna Brown, PhD
Shaquanna Brown, PhD

Dr. Brown’s program of research seeks to identify mechanisms underlying the impact of childhood adversity on adolescent risk behaviors, such as substance use.

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Karen Jennings Mathis, PhD, APRN-CNP, PMHNP-BC
Karen Jennings Mathis, PhD, APRN-CNP, PMHNP-BC

Dr. Jennings Mathis’s program of research focuses on the link between stress and eating disorders psychopathology within Black populations with a focus on discrimination and intersectionality, to enhance evidence-based assessments and interventions with integrated cultural factors.

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PROJECTS
Building Resilience to Increase Cardiac Rehabilitation Initiation
Building Resilience to Increase Cardiac Rehabilitation Initiation

Principal Investigator: Dr. Carly Goldstein
This pilot project aims to create four innovative intervention components that are easily disseminated to improve cardiac rehabilitation enrollment to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease

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Associations of accelerated cellular age and infant mental health
Associations of accelerated cellular age and infant mental health

Principal Investigator: Dr. Theresa Daniels
This pilot project proposes to examine the relationship between infant emotional reactivity and self-regulation with two key mechanisms of cellular aging: telomere attrition and mitochondrial dysfunction.

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Perceived Discrimination, Intersection of Identities, and Health Risk Behaviors in Black Adolescents
Perceived Discrimination, Intersection of Identities, and Health Risk Behaviors in Black Adolescents

Principal Investigator: Dr. Karen Jennings Mathis
This study addresses a critical gap in understanding the experiences of Black adolescents and can inform the development of more culturally appropriate screening tools and interventions.

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