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
- 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 .
- Barlaam, B, Alonso-Crisostomo, L, Anderson, NA, Argyrou, A, Astles, PC, Cadogan, EB et al.. Discovery and Optimization of a Non-Nucleoside-Based Series of Inhibitors of 2'-Deoxynucleoside 5'-Monophosphate Glycosidase (DNPH1). J Med Chem. 2025; :. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c02356. PubMed PMID:41194588 .
- Anderson, NA, Barlaam, B, Argyrou, A, Astles, PC, Bruss, H, Cadogan, EB et al.. Use of Direct-to-Biology Strategies for the Discovery of 2'-Deoxynucleoside 5'-Monophosphate N-Glycosidase (DNPH1) PROTACs. J Med Chem. 2025;68 (21):23421-23447. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c02337. PubMed PMID:41183227 .
- Thomas, A, Takahashi, N, Oplustil O'Connor, L, Redon, CE, Mohindroo, C, Sciuto, L et al.. Tumor-targeted top1 inhibitor delivery with optimized parp inhibition in advanced solid tumors: a phase i trial of gapped scheduling. Nat Commun. 2025;16 (1):9457. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-64509-5. PubMed PMID:41145467 PubMed Central PMC12559310.