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ALVERO, ALICIA

BAKER, HARVEY

BODNAR, RICHARD

BOROD, JOAN

BROWN, BRUCE

BRUMBAUGH, CLAUDIA

BRUMBERG, JOSHUA

CHACKO, ANIL

CROLL, SUSAN

EHRLICHMAN, HOWARD

FIELDS, LANNY

FIENUP, DANIEL

FLEISCHER, SUSAN

FLORY, JANINE

FOLDI, NANCY

HALPERIN, JEFFREY

HEMMES, NANCY

JOHNSON, RAY

JONES, EMILY

LANSON, ROBERT

LI, ANDREA

NOMURA, YOKO

PYTTE, CAROLYN

RAMSEY, PHILLIP

RANALDI, ROBERT

SNEED, JOEL

STORBECK, JUSTIN

STURMEY, PETER

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YOKO NOMURA

Title Assistant Professor
Area Sociomedical Sciences
Ph.D. Columbia University
Office A-344 Science Building
E-mail yoko.nomura@qc.cuny.edu
Office Phone 718-997-3164
   

Professional Activities:

    Society Memberships:
        Members of Psychosomatic Medicine
        New York Academy of Science
        Society of Research in Child Development
        American Psychopathological Association

    Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine (part-time)

Research Interests:

    Child development
    Critical period for the CNS development
    Developmental psychopathology
We investigate the role played by environmental risk factors (i.e., psychosocial stress and smoking during pregnancy), maternal biomarkers, and epi/genetic factors on fetal growth and newborn reactivity in conferring vulnerability to developmental psychopathology later in childhood. Considerable data indicate that diverse forms of developmental psychopathology are evident in utero. Maternal stress has been found to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes as well as child developmental psychopathology such as anxiety and disruptive disorders. Genetic and maternal serum factors during pregnancy have been linked to susceptibility and transduction of the maternal-fetal response to psychosocial stress. Maternal stress is transduced by serum cortisol levels, and heat-shock proteins are known to chaperone the glucocorticoid receptors at the cellular level (Heitzer et al., 2007). Recent data also demonstrate a strong genetic component in developmental psychopathology, with growing evidence for the important role of the serotonin transporter and glucocorticoid genes. Both genetic and behavioral expression, however, are dependent on a large number of environmental influences, with compelling data to support the presence of gene-environment interactions (Moffitt et al, 2005). To our knowledge, no study to date has prospectively examined the interactions between genes and maternal characteristics that influence gene expression, and serum factors that transduce maternal stress to fetus development and infant reactivity. We intend to explore the role of genetics and epigenetics in moderating the relationship between maternal and infant traits and in conferring future risk for developmental psychopathology in infants.

Selected Publications:

    Weissman MM, Wickramaratne PJ, Nomura Y, Warner V, Verdeli H, Pilowsky DJ, Grillon C, Bruder G. Families at high and low risk for depression: A three generation study. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005; 62:29-36.

    Weissman MM, Wickramaratne P, Nomura Y, Warner V, Pilowsky D, Vedeli H. Offspring of depressed parents: 20 years later. Am J Psychiatry; 2006; 163: 1001-1008.

    Nomura Y, Chemtob MC. Conjoined effects of low birthweight and childhood abuse on adaptation and well-being in the transition to young adulthood. Arch Ped & Adol Med, 2007; 161(2): 186-92.

    Nomura Y, Brooks-Gunn J, Davey C, Fifer WP. The role of perinatal problems in risk of co-morbid psychiatric and medical disorders in adulthood. Psychol Med, 2007, 37: 1323-1334.

    Nomura Y, Rajendran K, Brooks-Gunn J. Newcorn J. Roles of perinatal problems on childhood developmental problems and adolescent delinquency among children born after 33 completed weeks of gestation: A prospective investigation. JCPP 2008, 49 (10): 1108-1117.

    Nomura Y, Halperin JM, Newcorn JH, Davey C, Fifer WP, Savitz DA, Brooks-Gunn. The risk for impaired learning-related abilities in childhood and educational attainment among adults born near-term. J Ped Psychol, 2009, 34(4): 1084-1089.

    Nomura Y, Chemtob MC. Impact of maternal psychopathology on terrorism-exposed preschool children’s behavioral problems: using Generalized Estimating Equations to integrate multiple informant reports. Arch Ped & Adol Med, 2009, 163: 531-539.