Dr. Marie Camerota is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Pediatrics. She is the Director of the Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk at Women and Infants Hospital. Dr. Camerota received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed a T32 postdoctoral research fellowship at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and joined the faculty in 2022.
Dr. Camerota's research investigates the influence of environmental and biological factors on neurodevelopmental trajectories in both typically-developing and at-risk children. She has specific expertise in higher-order cognitive processes including executive function (EF). Her work includes a behavioral epigenetics focus, investigating how differences in DNA methylation may be associated with environmental experience and predict child neurodevelopmental outcomes. She is the Principal Investigator of numerous NIH grants investigating neurodevelopmental outcomes following very preterm birth.
| Camerota M, Bagley J, McGowan EC, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, DellaGrotta SA, Helderman JB, Hofheimer JA, Loncar CM, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Everson TM, Lester BM. "Agreement Between Two Behavioral Rating Scales in Preschoolers Born Very Preterm." Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, vol. 45, no. 1, 2024, pp. e72-e78. |
| Camerota M, Lester BM, McGowan EC, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, DellaGrotta SA, Helderman JB, Hofheimer JA, Loncar CM, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Abrishamcar S, Hüls A, Marsit CJ, Everson TM. "Contributions of prenatal risk factors and neonatal epigenetics to cognitive outcome in children born very preterm." Developmental Psychology, vol. 60, no. 9, 2024, pp. 1606-1619. |
| Hodge KM, Burt AA, Camerota M, Carter BS, Check J, Conneely KN, Helderman J, Hofheimer JA, Hüls A, McGowan EC, Neal CR, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, DellaGrotta SA, Dansereau LM, O'Shea TM, Marsit CJ, Lester BM, Everson TM. "Epigenetic associations with neonatal age in infants born very preterm, particularly among genes involved in neurodevelopment." Scientific reports, vol. 14, no. 1, 2024, pp. 18147. |
| Camerota M, Lester BM, Castellanos FX, Carter BS, Check J, Helderman J, Hofheimer JA, McGowan EC, Neal CR, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, O'Shea TM, Marsit CJ, Everson TM. "Epigenome-wide association study identifies neonatal DNA methylation associated with two-year attention problems in children born very preterm." Translational psychiatry, vol. 14, no. 1, 2024, pp. 126. |
| Camerota M, Lester BM. "Neurobehavioral outcomes of preterm infants: toward a holistic approach." Pediatric Research, 2024. |
| Check J, Shuster C, Hofheimer J, Camerota M, Dansereau LM, Smith LM, Carter BS, DellaGrotta SA, Helderman J, Kilbride H, Loncar CM, McGowan E, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Sheinkopf SJ, Lester BM. "Preeclampsia, Fetal Growth Restriction, and 24-Month Neurodevelopment in Very Preterm Infants." JAMA Network Open, vol. 7, no. 7, 2024, pp. e2420382. |
| Conradt E, Camerota M, Maylott S, Lester BM. "Annual Research Review: Prenatal opioid exposure - a two-generation approach to conceptualizing neurodevelopmental outcomes." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2023. |
| Camerota M, Lester BM, Everson TM. "Epigenetic studies of child neurodevelopment: what can we learn from a developmental science perspective?." Epigenomics, vol. 15, no. 16, 2023, pp. 799-804. |
| Willoughby MT, Camerota M, King KM, Nduku T, Piper B. "Leveraging item-level accuracy and reaction time to address ceiling effects in the measurement of inhibitory control in preschool-aged children." Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, vol. 14, 2023, pp. 861441. |
| Camerota M, McGowan EC, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, DellaGrotta SA, Helderman JB, Hofheimer JA, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Lester BM. "Maternal Prenatal Risk Phenotypes and Neurobehavioral Outcomes among Infants Born Very Preterm." The Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 260, 2023, pp. 113521. |
| Camerota M, McGowan EC, Aschner J, Stroustrup A, O'Shea TM, Hofheimer JA, Joseph RM, Musci R, Taylor G, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, Gogcu S, Helderman JB, Neal CR, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Marsit CJ, Lester BM, program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. "Neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes of very preterm infants: latent profile analysis in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program." Pediatric Research, 2023. |
| Camerota M, McGowan EC, Aschner J, Stroustrup A, Karagas MR, Conradt E, Crowell SE, Brennan PA, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, DellaGrotta SA, Everson TM, Helderman JB, Hofheimer JA, Kuiper JR, Loncar CM, Marsit CJ, Neal CR, O'Shea TM, Pastyrnak SL, Sheinkopf SJ, Smith LM, Zhang X, Lester BM. "Prenatal and perinatal factors associated with neonatal neurobehavioral profiles in the ECHO Program." Pediatric Research, vol. 94, no. 2, 2023, pp. 762-770. |
| McGowan, Elisabeth C., Hofheimer, Julie A., O’Shea, T. Michael, Kilbride, Howard, Carter, Brian S., Check, Jennifer, Helderman, Jennifer, Neal, Charles R., Pastyrnak, Steve, Smith, Lynne M., Camerota, Marie, Dansereau, Lynne M., Della Grotta, Sheri A., Lester, Barry M. "Analysis of Neonatal Neurobehavior and Developmental Outcomes Among Preterm Infants." JAMA Network Open, vol. 5, no. 7, 2022, pp. e2222249. |
| Eaves, Lauren A., Enggasser, Adam E., Camerota, Marie, Gogcu, Semsa, Gower, William A., Hartwell, Hadley, Jackson, Wesley M., Jensen, Elizabeth, Joseph, Robert M., Marsit, Carmen J., Roell, Kyle, Santos, Hudson P., Shenberger, Jeffrey S., Smeester, Lisa, Yanni, Diana, Kuban, Karl C. K., O’Shea, T. Michael, Fry, Rebecca C. "CpG methylation patterns in placenta and neonatal blood are differentially associated with neonatal inflammation." Pediatric Research, 2022. |
| Camerota, Marie, Davis, Jonathan M., Dansereau, Lynne M., Oliveira, Erica L., Padbury, James F., Lester, Barry M. "Effects of Pharmacologic Treatment for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome on DNA Methylation and Neurobehavior: A Prospective Cohort Study." The Journal of Pediatrics, vol. 243, 2022, pp. 21-26. |
| Propper, Cathi B., McLaughlin, Kirsten, Goldblum, Jessica, Camerota, Marie, Gueron-Sela, Noa, Mills-Koonce, W. Roger, Wagner, Nicholas J. "Parenting and maternal reported child sleep problems in infancy predict school-age aggression and inattention." Sleep Health, vol. 8, no. 1, 2022, pp. 62-68. |
| McLaughlin, Kirsten, Chandra, Archita, Camerota, Marie, Propper, Cathi. "Relations between infant sleep quality, physiological reactivity, and emotional reactivity to stress at 3 and 6 months." Infant Behavior and Development, vol. 67, 2022, pp. 101702. |
| Camerota, Marie, Wylie, Amanda C., Goldblum, Jessica, Wideman, Laurie, Cheatham, Carol L., Propper, Cathi B. "Testing a cascade model linking prenatal inflammation to child executive function." Behavioural Brain Research, vol. 431, 2022, pp. 113959. |
| Lester, Barry M, Camerota, Marie, Everson, Todd M. "The emergence of developmental behavioral epigenomics." Epigenomics, vol. 14, no. 9, 2022, pp. 499-502. |
| Graw, Stefan, Camerota, Marie, Carter, Brian S., Helderman, Jennifer, Hofheimer, Julie A., McGowan, Elisabeth C., Neal, Charles R., Pastyrnak, Steven L., Smith, Lynne M., DellaGrotta, Sheri A., Dansereau, Lynne M., Padbury, James F., O’Shea, Michael, Lester, Barry M., Marsit, Carmen J., Everson, Todd M. "NEOage clocks - epigenetic clocks to estimate post-menstrual and postnatal age in preterm infants." Aging, vol. 13, no. 20, 2021, pp. 23527-23544. |
| Camerota, Marie, McGowan, Elisabeth C., Hofheimer, Julie A., O’Shea, T. Michael, Carter, Brian S., Helderman, Jennifer B., Check, Jennifer, Neal, Charles R., Pastyrnak, Steven L., Smith, Lynne M., Loncar, Cynthia M., Sheinkopf, Stephen J., Dansereau, Lynne M., DellaGrotta, Sheri A., Lester, Barry M. "Neurodevelopmental profiles of infants born <30 weeks gestation at 2 years of age." Pediatric Research, vol. 91, no. 6, 2021, pp. 1579-1586. |
| Camerota, Marie, Graw, Stefan, Everson, Todd M., McGowan, Elisabeth C., Hofheimer, Julie A., O’Shea, T. Michael, Carter, Brian S., Helderman, Jennifer B., Check, Jennifer, Neal, Charles R., Pastyrnak, Steven L., Smith, Lynne M., Dansereau, Lynne M., DellaGrotta, Sheri A., Marsit, Carmen J., Lester, Barry M. "Prenatal risk factors and neonatal DNA methylation in very preterm infants." Clinical Epigenetics, vol. 13, no. 1, 2021. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T. "Applying Interdisciplinary Frameworks to Study Prenatal Influences on Child Development." Child Development Perspectives, vol. 15, no. 1, 2020, pp. 24-30. |
| Lerner, Rachel E., Camerota, Marie, Tully, Kristin P., Propper, Cathi. "Associations between mother-infant bed-sharing practices and infant affect and behavior during the still-face paradigm." Infant Behavior and Development, vol. 60, 2020, pp. 101464. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Magnus, Brooke E., Blair, Clancy B. "Leveraging item accuracy and reaction time to improve measurement of child executive function ability." Psychological Assessment, vol. 32, no. 12, 2020, pp. 1118-1132. |
| Camerota, Marie, Gueron‐Sela, Noa, Grimes, Melissa, Propper, Cathi B. "Longitudinal links between maternal factors and infant cognition: Moderation by infant sleep." Infancy, vol. 25, no. 2, 2020, pp. 128-150. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Blair, Clancy B. "Measurement models for studying child executive functioning: Questioning the status quo." Developmental Psychology, vol. 56, no. 12, 2020, pp. 2236-2245. |
| Short, Sarah J., Willoughby, Michael T., Camerota, Marie, Stephens, Rebecca L., Steiner, Rachel J., Styner, Martin, Gilmore, John H. "Individual differences in neonatal white matter are associated with executive function at 3 years of age." Brain Structure and Function, vol. 224, no. 9, 2019, pp. 3159-3169. |
| Camerota, Marie, Propper, Cathi B., Teti, Douglas M. "Intrinsic and extrinsic factors predicting infant sleep: Moving beyond main effects." Developmental Review, vol. 53, 2019, pp. 100871. |
| Grimes, Melissa, Camerota, Marie, Propper, Cathi B. "Neighborhood deprivation predicts infant sleep quality." Sleep Health, vol. 5, no. 2, 2019, pp. 148-151. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T. "Prenatal Risk Predicts Preschooler Executive Function: A Cascade Model." Child Development, vol. 91, no. 3, 2019. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Blair, Clancy B. "Speed and accuracy on the Hearts and Flowers task interact to predict child outcomes." Psychological Assessment, vol. 31, no. 8, 2019, pp. 995-1005. |
| Camerota, Marie, Tully, Kristin P, Grimes, Melissa, Gueron-Sela, Noa, Propper, Cathi B. "Assessment of infant sleep: how well do multiple methods compare?." Sleep, vol. 41, no. 10, 2018. |
| Gueron-Sela, Noa, None, None, Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Vernon-Feagans, Lynne, Cox, Martha J. "Maternal depressive symptoms, mother-child interactions, and children’s executive function." Developmental Psychology, vol. 54, no. 1, 2018, pp. 71-82. |
| Wagner, Nicholas J., Camerota, Marie, Propper, Cathi. "Prevalence and Perceptions of Electronic Cigarette Use during Pregnancy." Maternal and Child Health Journal, vol. 21, no. 8, 2017, pp. 1655-1661. |
| Camerota, Marie, Bollen, Kenneth A. "Birth Weight, Birth Length, and Gestational Age as Indicators of Favorable Fetal Growth Conditions in a US Sample." PLOS ONE, vol. 11, no. 4, 2016, pp. e0153800. |
| Gueron‐Sela, Noa, Propper, Cathi B., Wagner, Nicholas J., Camerota, Marie, Tully, Kristin P., Moore, Ginger A. "Infant respiratory sinus arrhythmia and maternal depressive symptoms predict toddler sleep problems." Developmental Psychobiology, vol. 59, no. 2, 2016, pp. 261-267. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Kuhn, Laura J., Blair, Clancy B. "The Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory (CHEXI): Factor structure, measurement invariance, and correlates in US preschoolers." Child Neuropsychology, vol. 24, no. 3, 2016, pp. 322-337. |
| Camerota, Marie, Willoughby, Michael T., Cox, Martha, Greenberg, Mark T. "Executive Function in Low Birth Weight Preschoolers: The Moderating Effect of Parenting." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, vol. 43, no. 8, 2015, pp. 1551-1562. |
K01MH129510
Longitudinal Antecedents of Attention Problems in Very Preterm Children: Role of Epigenetics, Executive Function, and Caregiver Psychological Distress
Role: Principal Investigator
R03HD115843
Caregiving Influences on Attention and Executive Function in Children Born Very Preterm
Role: Principal Investigator
R01HD117782
A Hidden Phenotype: Understanding Subclinical Deficits in Attention, Executive Function, and Social Communication in Children Born Very Preterm
Role: Principal Investigator
| Year | Degree | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | PhD | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| 2016 | MA | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| 2013 | BS | Cornell University |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Lester, Barry | Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Professor of Pediatrics, Director of the Center for the Study of Children at Risk |
| McGowan, Elisabeth | Associate Professor of Pediatrics |
| Director, Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk. Women and Infants Hospital, 2025- |
| Research Scientist. Women & Infants' Hospital of RI, 2022-2025 |
