Laura R. Stroud, PhD

Principal Investigator

Dr. Stroud serves as Senior Research Scientist and Founding Director of the Maternal-Infant Studies Laboratory and the Child and Adolescent Stress Laboratory at the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, The Miriam Hospital. Dr. Stroud’s research focuses on biobehavioral mechanisms of mood and addictive disorders. Her work involves a transdisciplinary, developmental framework incorporating both neurobiological and behavioral markers of risk and a focus on novel neurobehavioral and stress response paradigms. Her work focuses on two sensitive periods of development: fetal-infant transition and the adolescent/pubertal transition. Within the fetal-infant period, Dr. Stroud's work has focused on novel ultrasound measures of fetal development and biological  pathways through which effects of maternal substance use and depression are transmitted to the fetus and infant. She has also developed a new line of research focused on the impact of marijuana use and novel tobacco products (hookah, electronic cigarettes) on pregnant mothers and infants. Within the adolescent period, Dr. Stroud’s work has focused on novel neural and neuroendocrine biomarkers of risk for adolescent depression.

​Dr. Stroud has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2001. She has also been the recipient of three NARSAD awards from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and funding from the National Science Foundation, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation. Dr. Stroud served as a Contributing Author on the 2016 Surgeon General Report, E-Cigarette Use in Youth and Young Adults. She also served as Associate Editor for Nicotine and Tobacco Research and has been the recipient of the Bruce Selya Research Excellence Award from Lifespan Hospitals and the Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

​Dr. Laura Stroud has an AB in Human Biology from Stanford University, and received a PhD in Psychology from Yale University in 1999. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown in 2001, then joined the faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown. Since 2013, Dr. Stroud has also held a secondary appointment in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown. 

Katelyn Borba

Katelyn Borba is a Senior Department Research Administrator in the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Maternal-Infant Studies and Child and Adolescent Stress Laboratory. Katelyn received her B.A. in Psychology from Providence College and is interested in clinical psychology. When she is not with her extremely large and crazy Portuguese family, she enjoys playing with her dog Romeo, cooking, and relaxing at home or with a few girlfriends! She has a love for party planning and often finds herself throwing random arts & crafts parties, birthday brunches, and in the summer, pool parties!

Nicole Belanger, PHD

Dr. Belanger earned her PhD in Lifespan Developmental Psychology in 2018 from West Virginia University, where she researched the associations among infant temperament, adult personality, social relationships, and health behaviors. She then joined Lifespan/Brown University and served as a Clinical Research Supervisor and Data Manager on multiple clinical trial studies for three years. She recently transitioned to a Senior Research Project Director and Data Analyst position for the Maternal Infant Studies Lab within the Center for Behavioral and Preventative Medicine. 

In her spare time, Nicole enjoys hiking with her family, finding new places to dine, and spinning so she can continue to find new places to dine.

melissa feulner

Melissa received a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology with a Neuroscience minor from the University of Connecticut. After working for several years at the John B. Pierce Laboratory, she received the Holger Hansen Fellowship and completed her Master of Public Health at UConn Health. She moved to Rhode Island in September 2016 to work at CBPM on two studies: the Stress Management Meta-Analysis for People Living with Chronic Disease or Pain and the Let's Talk about Hookah Study. As a Project Director, she joined Dr. Stroud's team full time in 2020, working with REDCap programming and data management. Her career interests include psychiatric epidemiology, particularly in the addiction field, health equity, and biostatistics. During her free time, she enjoys yoga, sudoku, scary movies, traveling, and absolutely everything about summertime! Most of all, she loves spending time with her dog Mali.

Aaliyah Taylor

Aaliyah received her Bachelor of Science from Brown University in 2024. She currently works as an Clinical Research Assistant for the lab, as an NIEHS Diversity Supplement Scholar. Outside of the lab, she spends her time playing with her dog, dancing, and crocheting!

Laura laumann, M.S.

Laura Laumann is currently a psychology resident at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, working with Dr. Stroud as her research mentor. She is also a sixth-year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. Laura received a BA in psychology and Spanish from the University of Virginia and a MS in clinical psychology from the University of Connecticut. Prior to entering graduate school, Laura worked at Butler Hospital as a research coordinator in the Mood Disorders Research Program and Laboratory for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience. Her research aims to understand the complex relationships between stress, health behaviors, and mental and physical health. She is particularly interested in exploring the mechanisms through which physical activity reduces symptoms of anxiety, depression, and PTSD in individuals with chronic illness.

Gina Erato Garza

Gina Erato Garza is currently a clinical psychology resident at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, working with Dr. Stroud as her research mentor. Gina is also a doctoral candidate at Oklahoma State University where she is a member of the Child Adaptation and Maternal Psychopathology (CAMP) lab. Gina received a BA in Psychology and Italian Studies with a certificate in Child and Adolescent Studies from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Upon graduation, Gina worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Pediatric Gastroenterology clinic. Gina's research centers on perinatal mental health and the transition to parenthood. Specifically, she aims to examine the interplay of psychosocial (e.g., adversity, social support) and biological (e.g., sleep) factors on the development and maintenance of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.

Sarah Maloney, PhD

Sarah Maloney received a BS in Psychology at Northern Kentucky University and completed her MS in Psychology and PhD in Health Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently an Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS) T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences working with Dr. Laura Stroud in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Centers for Preventive and Behavioral Medicine of the Miriam Hospital, and Dr. Jennifer Tidey in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health and the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. During her doctoral studies, Sarah received a F31 from NIH/NIDA to examine the abuse liability of sweeteners in electronic cigarettes. Her research interests are focused on factors that influence the abuse liability of nicotine, tobacco, cannabis, alcohol, and caffeine use and co-use. In her free time she enjoys catching up with friends, playing Frisbee with her dog Otis, and trying out new restaurants and recipes.

natasha sokol, scd

Natasha is a social epidemiologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown, working with Dr. Stroud as her primary mentor. She has a background in tobacco control research, having worked in the Department of Research and Evaluation at the American Legacy Foundation (now the Truth Initiative) and in tobacco regulatory science at the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard University. She received her Doctor of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2018, where her dissertation focused on social ecological factors influencing adolescent cannabis initiation. Her current research interests surround the intersection of social adversity, maternal stress, substance use and maternal/infant health and behavioral outcomes. Dr. Sokol is especially interested in the profound impact of industry and the criminal justice system on family and intergenerational health in the United States. Dr. Sokol also holds a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a BA from Mount Holyoke College (in her native Massachusetts). In her spare time, Dr. Sokol loves to sing and spend time outdoors with her husband Adam and their beautiful dog Chessy. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to work with and learn from everyone in the Maternal-Infant Studies Lab!

LG Ward, phd

LG Ward received a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and a BS in Psychology from the College of Charleston. Dr. Rollins completed clinical internship at Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Laura Stroud in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Centers for Preventive and Behavioral Medicine of the Miriam Hospital which is funded through the Adolescent Biobehavioral/HIV T32 of Rhode Island Hospital under the direction of Dr. Larry Brown.

Dr. Ward’s program of research focuses on the effects of stress, trauma, and sexual violence on perinatal health as well as strategies to reduce risk and promote well-being during the perinatal period. Their prior research focused on the neuromolecular effects of maternal environmental stress and enrichment on neonatal brain injury, mindfulness interventions for discrimination-related stress and enhancing empathy across difference, as well as the effects of early life stress and sexual violence on biomarkers in pregnancy and pregnancy complications. She is currently transitioning to a new area of research focused on strategies to promote trauma-informed assessment and treatment in obstetric care for pregnant individuals who have experienced sexual violence. Dr. Ward’s clinical work focuses on women’s behavioral medicine with a particular focus on the perinatal period.

Sharon Lee, PhD

Sharon Lee, PhD, is a Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (STAR) T32 postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Laura Stroud in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at The Miriam Hospital. She completed her predoctoral clinical psychology internship at Brown and PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut. During her doctoral studies, Sharon received a F31 from the NIH/NHLBI to study stress reactivity as a mechanism linking PTSD and cardiovascular health. Sharon received a BA in Psychology from the University of Southern California, a MA in Psychology from Columbia University, and a MS in Clinical Psychology from the University of Connecticut.  Previously, Sharon worked at the New York University School of Medicine on research about biomarkers for PTSD and depression. Sharon’s research centers on biobehavioral mechanisms linking trauma and PTSD with adverse physical health outcomes, with a focus on cardiovascular disease.

Madi Crouse

Madison is a student at Bryant University studying Biology on a pre-med track. She plans to pursue a medical degree and a career as a pediatrician. Outside of the lab and her school work she is a part of the Bryant Rowing team. In her free time, Madi enjoys listening to music, being active outside, and spending time with friends and family.