Neurodevelopment of executive function, appetite regulation, and obesity in children and adolescents

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Dr. Adise is an excellent and ideal candidate for an NIDDK Mentored Research Scientist Development Award. She is currently transitioning from a postdoctoral fellow on the NIH-funded Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to faculty in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA). She has a strong publication and funding record and a unique combination of expertise across cognitive and computational neuroscience, nutrition, obesity, and pediatric ingestive behavior. The proposed research plan has three specific aims: 1) To characterize the temporal and directional cause vs. consequence relationship between neuroanatomical and functional associations of executive function and obesity development throughout adolescence; 2) To determine if developmental trajectories of executive function differ among populations with fewer neighborhood/ environmental resources linked to optimal child health and development. 3) To examine the contribution of infant nutrition to the development of executive function and appetite regulation during childhood. Dr. Adise has proposed an innovative study to address these aims that employs magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), novel statistical analyses (e.g., latent growth curve modeling, machine learning) and behavioral and biological markers of appetite regulation. The career development plan supports the research aims and Dr. Adise’s transition to independence with training in 1) neurocognitive development with respect to sex- and pubertal-specific influence on brain maturation; 2) social and environmental disparities (SED) and health; 3) Infant nutrition, appetite regulation, and body composition; and 4) Novel tools longitudinal data analysis. Her co-primary mentors, Drs. Elizabeth Sowell and Michael Goran are leading experts in the fields of neuroimaging, SED research, and infant nutrition and appetite regulation, respectively. Dr. Adise will also receive additional training with Dr. Kyung Rhee, a leading expert in translational mechanisms of executive functioning training in intervention research, and Dr. Joshua Millstein, an expert in longitudinal data analysis. CHLA is among the top 5 pediatric research hospitals in the USA and the population base consists of children who face extreme SEDs and health outcomes, including high rates of pediatric obesity. As one of Dr. Adise’s goals is to understand the influence of social and environmental disparities on obesity outcomes, CHLA is the perfect environment for Dr. Adise to accomplish her short- and long-term training and career goals. Dr. Adise has full backing and commitment from The Department of Pediatrics, which will continue to provide her with protected research time, a start-up package with significant funds, office and research space, and access to a wide array of research cores, including the MRI core as well as access to intramural funding programs. This award will help to establish the foundation on which Dr. Adise will build her expertise as a leading scientist in the field of neurocognitive development of pediatric ingestive behavior by providing the protected time to achieve the necessary training, experience, and mentorship.