Regina M Sullivan, PhD, Professor, Nathan Kline Institute & the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. Her research focuses on the neurobehavioral development of fear and attachment and the impact of adversity within attachment initiating the pathway to pathology.
Education
Dr. Sullivan obtained her B.S in Experimental Psychology at The City University of New York – Brooklyn College conducting research in fear conditioning in adults. Her Ph.D. is from The City University of New York – Hunter College where she conducted research on infant rat attachment and social development with Myron Hofer. She then did her postdoctoral research fellowship at Duke University with Ted Hall and The University of California with Michael Leon studying the neurobiology of the development of learning in infant rats. Throughout her education and career The International Society for Developmental Psychobiology has been an important part of Dr. Sullivan’s continued education.
Research
Dr. Sullivan began her independent research career as an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma in 1988 and became a full Professor in 19## and a Presidential Professor in 19#. She moved back to New York City in 19# as a Professor at New York University Langone Medical Center, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Neuroscience Institute and the Emotional Brain Institute at The Nathan Kline Institute. Throughout her career, her research program was focused on understanding unique age-specific features of the infant brain by comparing its function when the infant was alone or with its mother. By using different levels of analysis ranging from measuring intracellular molecules, electrophysiology, microdialysis and pharmacological and optogenetic techniques to probe causal mechanisms. Through the long-term collaboration with developmental psychologists and clinicians Dr. Sullivan has tried to conduct research that build bridges between this basic animal research and human research. Throughout the decades, this research has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation.