Research
Association between prenatal alcohol exposure and child socio-emotional development
Appointments
- Director, UCLA Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Clinic
- Professor, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
- Program Director, ABC Child Partial Outpatient Program
- Training Director, Tarjan Center for Developmental Disabilities
Biography
Dr. O’Connor’s current work examines psychosocial and psychiatric risk due to prenatal alcohol exposure. Dr. O’Connor has conducted research on the prevention of alcohol consumption in pregnant women, intervention with children with prenatal alcohol exposure, and medical and allied health education on prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
All of her work has focused on collaborative national initiatives with the long-term goal of developing best practice models to be disseminated on local, state, and national levels.
The overarching emphasis of Dr. O’Connor’s research career has been the development, evaluation, and dissemination of empirically supported assessment and treatment methods for high-risk children.
Publications
- Walsh, TM Jr, Ahmed, H, Asztalos, IB, Boyle, C, Edelson, JB, Edwards, JJ et al.. Elevated heart rate is associated with increased mortality and rejection in pediatric heart transplant recipients. JHLT Open. 2026;13 :100598. doi: 10.1016/j.jhlto.2026.100598. PubMed PMID:42305104 PubMed Central PMC13266033.
- Langanecha, B, Jeewa, A, Adachi, I, Mavroudis, CD, Shezad, M, Absi, M et al.. Explantation Of Durable Ventricular Assist Device For Myocardial Functional Recovery In Children: A Report From The ACTION Registry. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2026; :. doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2026.06.007. PubMed PMID:42297122 .
- Fisher, SA, Hardi, J, Morgan, R, Nordgren, E, Kant, PM, Honick, B et al.. The HuBMAP Framework for Advancing Data FAIRness. bioRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.06.01.728946. PubMed PMID:42282748 PubMed Central PMC13252145.
- Alger, JR, Gupta, I, Farkouh, L, Korthas, J, Shah, A, Silverberg, A et al.. Anterior middle cingulate cortex gamma-aminobutyric acid level is elevated in children with both familial and prenatal alcohol exposure-associated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. medRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.25.26354065. PubMed PMID:42245023 PubMed Central PMC13232367.
- Gupta, I, Farkouh, L, Kilpatrick, L, Korthas, J, Salamon, N, Schneider, BN et al.. Distinct Resting-State Functional Connectivity Profiles in ADHD with and without Prenatal Alcohol Exposure. medRxiv. 2026; :. doi: 10.64898/2026.05.25.26354061. PubMed PMID:42245014 PubMed Central PMC13232366.