Gretchen Bandoli

Gretchen Bandoli is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). She holds academic affiliations within the School of Medicine and leads research focused on pregnancy and early childhood health determinants, particularly examining substance exposures (e.g., alcohol, cannabis) and medications. Her work integrates epidemiological methods to study complex maternal-child health outcomes.

Dr. Bandoli earned a PhD in Epidemiology from UCLA (2015), an MPH from San Diego State University (2014), and an MBA in Finance from Indiana University (2005). She has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the UCSF PTBi Postdoctoral Scholarship (2016–2018) and UCLA’s Judith Blake Memorial Fellowship (2014–2015).

Her research interests include prenatal substance exposure impacts, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and methodological advancements in exposure characterization. Key projects include the NIH-funded HEALthy Brain & Child Development Consortium and studies on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). She has authored over 200 publications, focusing on topics such as maternal cardiovascular events in autoimmune diseases, cannabis use during lactation, and disparities in neonatal care.

Dr. Bandoli’s grants include roles as Principal Investigator for NIH R21AA031765 (Parental Substance Use in Pregnancy) and U01DA055369 (HBCD Consortium). She collaborates extensively with teams at UCSD and other institutions, driving interdisciplinary research in perinatal epidemiology and child health equity.

Her work addresses urgent public health challenges, such as opioid-related birth defects and heat-related infant morbidity. Ongoing projects aim to leverage machine learning for FASD diagnosis and improve longitudinal data collection in early childhood development studies.