Cheryl Walker

Cheryl Walker, MD is a Researcher in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of California, Davis. She leads research on innovative non-hormonal contraceptive methods and investigates how maternal exposures influence fetal brain development. Dr. Walker is an Affiliate Scientist at the California National Primate Research Center, where she examines developmental programming effects at clinical and molecular levels in both human and nonhuman primate models.

Her current NIH-funded grants include an R01 studying placental mechanisms linking maternal obesity to neurodevelopmental outcomes, and an R21 exploring how maternal metabolic factors mediate phthalate exposure's effects on child neurodevelopment. Her work bridges clinical obstetrics with molecular research to address lifelong health disparities originating in prenatal periods.