• Infant and childhood pain
• Cardiovascular autonomic stress reactivity
• Developmental effects of prenatal exposure to antidepressant medications and maternal mood

I am a developmental pediatrician studying how early social experience (prenatal maternal mental illness and psychotropic medication exposure) influences biobehavioral development during childhood.

My work understanding early child development extends from molecular and genetic studies to behavioral outcomes in childhood that reflect the context in which the child lives. A common theme to my research is understanding the role played by the neurodevelopmental chemical serotonin (5HT) and related genetic factors in shaping relationships between early life experience and child development. I have three main areas of research:

1. Developmental effects of prenatal psychotropic medication exposure:  This research includes studies of the developmental impact of prenatal exposure to psychotropic medications (i.e. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [SSRI] antidepressants, alcohol) and depressed maternal mood during pregnancy. Biobehavioral, pharmacologic and genetic factors that moderate fetal exposure are studied. Outcomes of interest are pain/stress reactivity, cognitive function (executive functions), and arousal and emotional regulation.
   
2. Biobehavioral neural gradients in child development and community context: Understanding that child development differs across Vancouver neighbourhoods, this work, in collaboration with HELP studies relationships between stress biomarkers (cardiac autonomic, cortisol, salivary measures of serotonin-related proteins), social behavior and community context in school-aged children. This work allows us to study whether child behavior varies across high and low “behavioral risk”, both at a classroom level and how these patterns relate to emotional and academic achievement. 
   
3. Pain and children with developmental disabilities:  This research seeks to understand pain in children with developmental disabilities. The current focus of this work is to improve pain assessment management among this population of children.

Research Methodology

• Fetal and neonatal behavioral state regulation
• Non invasive stress measures (cardiac autonomic (RSA, PEP), salivary alpha-amylase & cortisol)
• Measures of genetic and epigenetic-environment interactions reflecting the impact of early experience
• Population-based linked child health data

Oberlander T.F. , Weinberg J., Papsdorf M., Grunau R, Misri S., Devlin A.M. Prenatal exposure to maternal depression, neonatal methylation of human glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) and infant cortisol stress responses. Epigenetics 2008 3:2, 1-9; 

Oberlander T.F., Warburton B, Misri S, Riggs K.W, Aghajanian J, Hertzman C. Population-based study of major congenital malformations following exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors combined with benzodiazepines. Birth Defects Part B: Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology 2008; 83(1):68-76.

Oberlander TF, Bonaguro R, Misri S, Papsdorf M, Ross CJD,  Simpson EM. Infant Serotonin Transporter (SLC6A4) Promoter Genotype is Associated with Adverse Neonatal Outcomes after Prenatal Exposure to Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SRI) Medications. Molecular Psychiatry 2008; 13(1):65-73.

Oberlander TF, Reebye P, Misra S, Grunau RE. Externalizing and attentional behaviors in children of depressed mothers treated with an SSRI antidepressant during pregnancy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2007; 161: 22-29.           
        
Oberlander TF, Warburton W, Misri S, Aghajanian J, Hertzman C. Neonatal outcomes after prenatal exposure to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants and maternal depression using population-based linked health data. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006;63(8):898-906.

Oberlander TF, Grunau RE, Fitzgerald C, Papsdorf M, Rurak D, Riggs W. Pain reactivity in 2-month-old infants after prenatal and postnatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication exposure. Pediatrics. 115(2): 411-425, 2005.
 
Misri S, Oberlander TF, Fairbrother N, Carter D, Ryan D, Kuan AJ, Reebye P. Relation between prenatal maternal mood and anxiety and neonatal health. Can J Psychiatry. 49(10): 684-689, 2004.
 
Oberlander TF, Misri S, Fitzgerald C, Kostaras X, Rurak D, Riggs W. Pharmacologic factors associated with transient neonatal symptoms following prenatal psychotropic medication exposure. J Clin Psychiatry. 65(2): 230-7, 2004.
 
Nader R, Oberlander TF, Chambers C, Craig KD. Pain expression in children with and without autism. Clin J Pain. 20(2): 88-97, 2004.

R. Howard Webster Professor in Early Childhood Development (2004-present)

Human Early Learning Partnership, Senior Scholar Award (2002-2005)

Early Career UBC Scholar, The Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, UBC (2003-2004)

Canadian Pediatric Society, Aventis Pasteur Research Award (2003)

My work includes a number of key partnerships at CFRI, HELP, BCCH and UBC, including Pediatrics, Psychology, Neonatology, Reproductive Mental Health, Child Psychiatry, Maternal Fetal Medicine, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Cellular & Physiological Sciences.