GRANTS AND RESEARCH PROJECTS

OPEN RESEARCH PROJECTS

• CHOC Children's FIT Brain:  A cognitive remediation program for pediatric survivors of cancer. (Principal Investigator)
• Parent Intervention Study (PIP)-III, Multi-Center ACS Funded Study (Co-Investigator)

CLOSED PROJECTS

• Use of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) to evaluate neurocognitive decline and recovery in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult (AYA) patients newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL or lymphoblastic lymphoma (LLy) (Co-Investigator)
• ALTE07C1: Neuropsychological, Social, Emotional, and Behaviour Outcomes in Children with Cancer, Children’s Oncology Group (Site Evaluator)
• Ketogenic Diet as a Complementary Metabolic Therapy in Pediatric Recurrent/Refractory Solid Tumors Including Central Nervous system (CNS) Tumors (Co-Investigator)
• Post-Surgical Neurocognitive Outcomes in Children and Adolescents with Epilepsy (Principal Investigator)
• Executive Functions in Monolingual and Bilingual Childhood CNS Cancer Survivors (Principal Investigator)
• Sedation Strategy and Cognitive Outcome After Critical Illness in Early Childhood: RESTORE Cognition (Site Evaluator)
• National Validation of the PedsQL – Epilepsy Module (Site Co-Investigator)
• Therapeutic Hypothermia to Improve survival After Cardiac Arrest and Cognitive functioning (Site Evaluator)
• Intellectual and Cognitive Outcome in Bilingual and Monolingual Children with Medulloblastoma and other Cancers Affecting the Central Nervous System (Principal Investigator)
• Factors Affecting Language Development and Intellectual Outcome in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (Principal Investigator)
• Cognitive Training to Promote Neuroplasticity and neural Re-Circuitry in Chemotherapy-Associated Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Study (Co-Investigator)

Program Grant
Assessment and Treatment Services Center

• Principal Investigator and co-author of $279,000 (3-year) program grant funded by the Orange County Children and Families Commission (Proposition 10 Funds). Program is designed to measure the efficacy of the Early Childhood STEP program and identify key parenting variables associated with childhood emotional and behavioral symptoms. Results accepted for presentation at regional and national conventions.

Dissertation
California School of Professional Psychology

• "Family Typology and Health Outcome of Alzheimer's Patients." A cluster analytic study of families of Alzheimer's Disease patients to identify different family "types" among this clinical sample. Concurrently examined the influence of multiple family interaction variables on the health and well-being of offspring of Alzheimer's patients.

Research Project
CHOC Children’s Hospital

• Designed needs-based questionnaire with colleagues for physicians, residents, nurse practitioners, and other health professionals in the hospital to: (1) determine what types of referrals are made from the various medical services; (2) establish primary consultation-liaison needs of the various medical departments; (3) determine possible neglected areas in need of psychological and/or neuropsychological coverage; and (4) elicit individual physician/nurse concerns and needs related to the delivery of psychological and neuropsychological services.

Research Assistant
UCSF, Memory Clinic and Alzheimer's Center

• Rated audiotapes of individual and family interviews; participated in monthly research meetings. Principal Investigators: Lawrence Fisher, Ph.D. and Morton Lieberman, Ph.D., UCSF faculty members.

Research Assistant
California School of Professional Psychology

• "AIDS: Education, knowledge, and attitudes among college students." Provided comprehensive research assistance consisting of library research and literature review, coding, data entry utilizing SPSS, and analyzing data. Principal Investigator: Toke Hoppenbrowers, Ph.D., CSPP Los Angeles faculty member.

Research Project
California State University

• "Psychological Sequelae of Delayed Puberty.” Designed and implemented survey examining the psychological sequelae of delayed puberty in adulthood as partial credit in undergraduate research course.