Dr. Rojo-Wissar is a translational scientist whose mechanistic research focuses on mental and physical health trajectories across the lifespan in the context of early life adversity, with particular emphasis on sleep, the parent-child relationship, and racial and ethnic disparities. This mechanistic work serves to inform the development of large-scale evidence-based public health interventions focused on improving sleep, and in turn health, in populations exposed to early life adversity in high-need underserved community settings (e.g., foster care).
My research is focused on examining the role of sleep and circadian rhythms in the development and exacerbation of poor mental and physical health outcomes across the lifespan to inform intervention and prevention strategies. I am particularly interested in links of sleep and circadian rhythms with health in the context of early-life exposures (i.e., adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], the child welfare system, and parent-child bonding/attachment), and investigating whether racial/ethnic differences and/or disparities in these associations exist. This broadly includes three major research questions: (1) To what extent do ACE-related sleep/circadian disturbances contribute to poor health outcomes across the life course; (2) To what extent does parent-child bonding/attachment confer resiliency in the associations among ACEs, sleep, and health; and (3) Can treatment of sleep disturbances help prevent ACE-related health issues (e.g., depression) and/or reduce the severity of prevalent ACE-related health issues. I also conduct work investigating potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying these associations and on research methodology related to the assessment and conceptualization of both early life adversity and sleep.
Currently, my work has a major focus on the foster care population, and I am supported by grants to (1) develop and implement a public-health-level digital behavioral sleep intervention for preschool-aged children in foster care (NHLBI 1K01HL169495-01), and (2) to examine longitudinal associations among parent-child relationship quality, sleep, and health among adults who were in foster care as children, using nationally representative data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (NIGMS P20GM139767).
Sleep Research Society Foundation 2020 Small Research Grant, Associations of Sleep Duration with Subsequent Inflammation and Blood Pressure among Young Adults Previously in Foster Care. (PI: Rojo-Wissar, DM), 12/17/20.
NIGMS P20GM139767 COBRE for Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (PIs: Stroud, L & Tyrka, A) pilot project: Parent-child relationship quality in adolescence and sleep and health in adulthood: associations among individuals who were in foster care. (PI: Rojo-Wissar, DM), 7/20/23-7/19/24.
NHLBI 1K01HL169495-01 Development and implementation of a digital sleep intervention for preschoolers in foster care. (PI: Rojo-Wissar, DM), 9/01/23-8/31/2028.
