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Michelle A. Chen

IPR Postdoctoral Fellow

IPR Postdoctoral Fellow

PhD, Psychology, Rice University

Contact: michelle.a.chen@northwestern.edu

View CV

 

Michelle A. Chen is a Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow working with Drs. Edith Chen and Greg Miller in the Foundations of Health Research Center. Her research focuses on understanding how childhood adversity can impact biobehavioral processes that affect psychological and physical health outcomes across the lifespan. Current research projects include investigating how neighborhood-level structural racism can impact cardiovascular risk in disadvantaged youth.

Chen completed her Ph.D. at Rice University in Psychology as part of the Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine Research Program, where she received a Ruth L. Kirschstein NIH National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship for her dissertation work studying adverse childhood experiences and individual differences among dementia spousal caregivers.

Selected Publications

Chen, M. A., and C. Fagundes. 2022. Childhood maltreatment, emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms during spousal bereavement. Child Abuse & Neglect 128: 105618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2022.105618

Chen, M. A., R. Brown, J. Chen, M. de Dios, C. Green, C. Heijnen, and C. Fagundes. 2022. Childhood maltreatment, subjective socioeconomic status, and health disparities in bereavement. Psychoneuroendocrinology 135: 105595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105595

Chen, M. A., A. LeRoy, M. Majd, J. Chen, R. Brown, L. Christian, and C. Fagundes. 2021. Immune and epigenetic pathways linking childhood adversity and health across the lifespan. Frontiers in Psychology 12: 5550. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.788351

Chen, M. A., M. Lewis, D. Chirinos, K. Murdock, and C. Fagundes. 2020. Differential psychological reactions to grief: The role of childhood adversity for depression symptoms among bereaved and non-bereaved adults. Death Studies 44(12): 778–86.

Garcini, L., M. A. Chen, R. Brown, A. LeRoy, M. Cano, K. Peek, and C. Fagundes. 2020. “Abrazame que ayuda” (Hug me, it helps): Social support and the effect of perceived discrimination on depression among US- and Foreign-born Latinxs in the USA. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 7(3): 481–87.

Garcini, L., Chen, M. A., R. Brown, T. Galvan, L. Saucedo, J. Berger Cardoso, and C. Fagundes. 2018. Kicks hurt less: Discrimination predicts distress beyond trauma among undocumented Mexican immigrants. Psychology of Violence 8(6): 692–701.