Alexandra Sullivan

Alexandra Sullivan, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), focusing on parenting interventions and child mental health. Her work bridges clinical psychology with epigenetic research to address adversity's impact on child development.

• Education:
  • PhD in Clinical & Developmental Psychology, University of Vermont (2022)
  • Intergenerational Developmental Health Program, UCSF (2025)

Research Interests include:

• Epigenetic aging in children
• Parent-child psychotherapy efficacy
• Technology-enhanced behavioral parent training
• Scrupulosity and obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Resilience in low-income families

Publications emphasize parenting's role in mitigating biological aging from adversity, with recent work in Mental Health Science (2025) and Psychological Science (2024). Her Psychoneuroendocrinology (2024) studies explore placental hormone associations with childhood behavior.

Scientific Awards:
• Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine Young Investigator Award (2024)
• Canadian Institute for Advanced Research Child & Brain Development Trainee (2023)
• Medical University of South Carolina Cultural Humility Award (2022)

Grants include NIH funding for remote parenting assessments (ECHO 2U2COD023375, 2024-2026) and NIH F31HD098825 (2019-2022) for parent training biomarker analysis. She collaborates with UCSF researchers in epigenetics and child health.