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
- Edelson, JB, Schneider, L, O'Malley, S, Somogie, J, Huang, J, Li, ZN et al.. Design and rationale of the MIGHTEE study: Motivational interviewing and group heart transplant exercise and education. JHLT Open. 2026;11 :100421. doi: 10.1016/j.jhlto.2025.100421. PubMed PMID:41342002 PubMed Central PMC12671351.
- Edelson, JB, O'Connor, MJ, Zhang, X, Tomlinson, AZ, Rossano, JW. Expedited Organ Placement Is Rare in Pediatric Heart Transplantation: A UNOS Registry Analysis. Circ Heart Fail. 2025; :e013435. doi: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.125.013435. PubMed PMID:41332379 .
- Kauffman, H, Convery, MJ, Matsubara, D, Miller, KE, O'Connor, MJ, Quartermain, MD et al.. Fully Automated Evaluation of Left Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain in Normal Hearts: An Assessment of Accuracy in the Pediatric Population. Pediatr Cardiol. 2025; :. doi: 10.1007/s00246-025-04074-2. PubMed PMID:41243031 .
- O'Connor, MJ, Vu, C, Zhang, X, Bennett, L, Ahmed, H, Edwards, JJ et al.. Allosensitization status predicts excess mortality in pediatric congenital heart disease transplant recipients in the current era: An analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing database. JHLT Open. 2025;10 :100406. doi: 10.1016/j.jhlto.2025.100406. PubMed PMID:41234303 PubMed Central PMC12605928.
- Liversedge, M, Wang, J, Boustany, M, Sharova, A, Lin, KY, O'Connor, MJ et al.. Epidemiology of Invasive Fungal Disease in Pediatric Heart Transplant Recipients. J Pediatric Infect Dis Soc. 2025; :. doi: 10.1093/jpids/piaf101. PubMed PMID:41206107 .