Shulamite Green

Assistant Professor
Primary Area: Developmental Psychology
Address: Semel 28-263
Email: shulamite@g.ucla.edu

Research and Teaching Interests:

Dr. Green’s research integrates neuroimaging, psychophysiological, and behavioral methods to identify individual differences in risk markers and outcomes in high-risk developmental populations. Her research has mainly focused on autism, from infancy through young adulthood, although she also studies other populations at risk for sensory processing difficulties including children with anxiety disorders and children with early life trauma. Broadly, research goals include 1) identify the neurobiological and physiological mechanisms underlying sensory processing difficulties; 2) determine whether these mechanisms are shared or distinct across risk groups; 3) examine how sensory processing affects higher-level cognition such as attention, social functioning, and executive functioning; and 4) use this information to inform identification and treatment of children at high risk for sensory processing difficulties. Dr. Green’s current work has begun to test potential interventions for sensory over-responsivity including psychopharmacological, behavioral, and neuromodulation approaches. Dr. Green also collaborates with animal researchers through the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) to identify cross-species neural mechanisms of sensory over-responsivity.

Biography:

Dr. Green is the Friends of the Semel Institute Term Chair in Translational Mental Health Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. Green completed a doctorate in Clinical Psychology at UCLA, and thereafter completed a postdoctoral fellowship focused on pediatric functional neuroimaging methods at UCLA’s Brain Mapping Center. Her work has been funded by multiple grants from the National Institute of Mental Health as well as through private autism and neuroscience foundations. Dr. Green received the International Society for Autism Research Dissertation Award as well as their Slifka/Ritvo Award for Innovation in Autism Research. Dr. Green’s research is closely informed by her clinical experience: she is a licensed clinical psychologist and currently serves as the autism specialist at UCLA TIES for Families, providing evaluation and consultation for families adopting children from foster care.