Elinor L. Sullivan, Ph.D. (she/her)

  • Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
  • Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience, School of Medicine

Biography

Dr. Sullivan received her Ph.D. in Physiology from OHSU in 2006 and her bachelor’s degree in Biology from Willamette University. She received her postdoctoral training at the University of California San Francisco and OHSU. Dr. Sullivan is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Sullivan is actively involved in training future scientists through her teaching and mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students. Dr. Sullivan’s research focuses on examining the influence of early environmental factors on child neurobehavioral regulation, with an emphasis on behaviors that relate to mental health and behavioral disorders including autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, and depression.

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • B.A., 2000, Willamette University
    • B.A., 2000, Willamette University
    • Ph.D., 2006, Oregon Health & Science University
    • Ph.D., 2006, Oregon Health & Science University

Areas of interest

  • Behavioral Regulation
  • Brain Development
  • Developmental Programming
  • Maternal Nutrition
  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Anxiety
  • Serotonin

Honors and awards

  • May 2016 Outstanding Scholarship Award, University of Portland
  • November 2015 Authored manuscript “Maternal High-Fat Diet and Obesity Impact Palatable Food Intake and Dopamine Signaling in Nonhuman Primate Offspring” selected as one of the top four entries to be included in the Third Annual Obesity Journal Symposium.
  • January 2015 Provost’s Initiative for Undergraduate Research Award - ($1,000) University of Portland.
  • November 2014 The Impact of Maternal Diet on Offspring Behavioral Regulation, Butine, $1,166.00
  • May 2010 Award for Best Post-Doctoral Talk. Oregon Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience.
  • July 2009 Pat Simons Travel Award Grant to attend the Annual Meeting of The Obesity Society. The Obesity Society.
  • October 2008 Travel Award to attend NIH’s Neuroimaging in Obesity Research Workshop. National Institute of Health
  • May 2008 Award for Top-Ranked Post-Doctoral Fellowship of 2007. Bay Area Division of the American Heart Association.
  • September 2006 Stipend support from Molecular Approaches to Mental Health Fellowship Program, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
  • May 2006 Award for best poster presentation at the Student Research Forum, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
  • April 2006 Travel award to attend Annual Meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. Oregon Chapter of Society for Neuroscience.
  • November 2005 Nominated to the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Science Program for Excellence in Science.
  • May 2005 Stipend support from Reproductive Training Grant, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
  • April 2004 Travel award to attend Annual Meeting of the Oregon Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience. Oregon Chapter of Society for Neuroscience.

Publications

Selected publications

  • Sullivan EL, Holton KF, Barling AN, Sullivan CA, Nousen EK, Propper C, and Nigg JT. Early Identification of ADHD Risk via Infant Temperament and Emotional Regulation: A Pilot Study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2015 Sep;56(9):949-57. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12426. Epub 2015 May 12. PMID: 25968589.
  • Musser ED, Willoughby MT, Wright S, Sullivan EL, Stadler DD, Olson BF, Steiner RD, Nigg JT. Maternal prepregnancy body mass index and offspring attention-deifict/hyperactivity disorder: a quasi-experimental sibling-comparison, population-based design. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017;58(3):240-247. PMCID: PMC5787386.
  • Gustafsson HC, Sullivan EL, Nousen EK, Sullivan CA, Huang E, Rincon M, Nigg JT, Loftis JM. Maternal Prenatal Depression Predicts Infant Negative Affect via Maternal Inflammatory Cytokine Levels, Brain, Behavior and Immunity, 2018 Jun 18. pii: S0889-1591(18)30227-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2018.06.011. [Epub ahead of print].
  • Gustafsson HC, Holton KF, Anderson AN, Nousen EK, Sullivan CA, Thompson JR, Fair DA, Loftis JM, Nigg JT, Sullivan EL. Increased maternal prenatal adiposity, inflammation, and lower Omega-3 fatty acid levels influence child negative affect. Front Neurosci. 2019;13:1035. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01035. PMCID: PMC6779776.
  • Gustafsson HC, Sullivan EL, Battison EA, Holton KF, Graham AM, Karalunas SL, Fair DA, Loftis JM, Nigg JT. Evaluation of Maternal Inflammation as a Biomarker of Future Offspring ADHD Symptoms: A Prospective Investigation, Brain Behavior and Immunity, Available online 21 July 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2020.07.019. PMID: 32707260.
  • KohlaschKL, CioffrediLA,LenningerC, StewartE, VatalaroT, GaravanH, GrahamA, HeilSH, KransEE, RobakisT, RommelA, SullivanEL, ThomasonM, Potter A.Factors associated with parent views about participation in infant MRI research provide guidance for the design of the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) stud
  • DiPietro J, Mackiewicz Seghete K, Krans E, Snider KD, Bower R, Parker K, Potter A, Garavan H, Vatalaro T*, Thomason M, Sullivan EL, Graham AM. Stakeholder perspectives on advancing understanding of prenatal opioid exposure and brain development from the iOPEN Consortium of the Healthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD). Frontiers in Psychology, 2021 Jul 30;12:698766.  doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.698766. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34393931, PMCID: PMC
  • Gustafsson HC, Young AS, Doyle O, Nagel BJ, Mackiewicz Seghete K, Nigg JT, Sullivan EL, Graham A. Trajectories of perinatal depressive symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Child Development, 92, e749–e763. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13656. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34448493.
  • Gustafsson HC, Nolvi S, Sullivan EL, Rasmussen J, Gyllenhammer LE, Entringer S, Wadhwa PD, O’Connor TG, Karlsson L, Karlsson H, Korja R, Buss C, Graham A M, & Nigg JT. Early Development of Negative and Positive Affect: Implications for ADHD Symptomatology Across Three Birth Cohorts. Development and Psychopathology, 1-12. doi:10.1017/S0954579421001012.
  • Gustafsson HC, Young, AS, Stamos G, Wilken S, Brito NH, Thomason ME, Graham A, Nigg JT, Sullivan, EL. Innovative Methods for Remote Assessment of Neurobehavioral Development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 52, 2021, 101015, ISSN 1878-9293, doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.101015. PMID: 34601346.

Publications

  • Higher prenatal dietary glycemic index in the third trimester of pregnancy is associated with infant negative affect at 6 months

    Scientific Reports
    1. Elizabeth Wood
    2. Olivia Nomura
    3. Jennifer C. Ablow
    4. Annaliese Elliot
    5. Angela Horgan
    6. Joel Nigg
    7. Hanna Bagley
    8. Elinor Sullivan

  • Adipokines measured during pregnancy and at birth are associated with infant negative affect

    Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
    1. Elinor L. Sullivan
    2. Kelly R. Molloy
    3. Geoffrey A. Dunn
    4. Adriana L. Balanzar
    5. Anna S. Young
    6. Jennifer M. Loftis
    7. Jennifer C. Ablow
    8. Joel T. Nigg
    9. Hanna C. Gustafsson

  • Biospecimens in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study

    Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
    1. Elinor L. Sullivan
    2. Ryan Bogdan
    3. Ludmila Bakhireva
    4. Pat Levitt
    5. Joseph Jones
    6. Michael Sheldon
    7. Julie M. Croff
    8. Moriah Thomason
    9. Jamie O. Lo
    10. Leigh MacIntyre
    11. Susmita Shrivastava
    12. Leigh Anne Cioffredi
    13. Andrea G. Edlow
    14. Brittany R. Howell
    15. Barbara H. Chaiyachati
    16. Nicole Lashley-Simms
    17. Kelly Molloy
    18. Cris Lam
    19. Anna M. Stoermann
    20. Thanh Trinh
    21. Namasivayam Ambalavanan
    22. Jenae M. Neiderhiser

  • Gestational and early postnatal protein malnutrition disrupts neurodevelopment in rhesus macaques

    Cerebral Cortex
    1. Joshua A. Karpf
    2. Elinor Sullivan
    3. Victoria Roberts
    4. Colin Studholme
    5. Charles Roberts
    6. Christopher D. Kroenke

  • Perinatal Western-style diet exposure associated with decreased microglial counts throughout the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus in Japanese macaques

    Journal of neurophysiology
    1. Samantha Papadakis
    2. Jacqueline R. Thompson
    3. Eric Feczko
    4. Oscar Miranda-Dominguez
    5. Geoffrey A. Dunn
    6. Matthew Selby
    7. A. J. Mitchell
    8. Elinor L. Sullivan
    9. Damien A. Fair

  • Prenatal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure alters fetal neurodevelopment in rhesus macaques

    Scientific Reports
    1. Kimberly S. Ryan
    2. Joshua A. Karpf
    3. Chi Ngai Chan
    4. Olivia L. Hagen
    5. Trevor J. McFarland
    6. J. Wes Urian
    7. Xiaojie Wang
    8. Emily R. Boniface
    9. Melanie H. Hakar
    10. Jose Juanito D. Terrobias
    11. Jason A. Graham
    12. Scarlet Passmore
    13. Kathleen A. Grant
    14. Elinor L. Sullivan
    15. Marjorie R. Grafe
    16. Julie A. Saugstad
    17. Christopher D. Kroenke
    18. Jamie O. Lo

  • A Maternal Western-Style Diet Impairs Skeletal Muscle Lipid Metabolism in Adolescent Japanese Macaques

    Diabetes
    1. Keenan T. Greyslak
    2. Byron Hetrick
    3. Bryan C. Bergman
    4. Tyler A. Dean
    5. Stephanie R. Wesolowski
    6. Maureen Gannon
    7. Simon Schenk
    8. Elinor L. Sullivan
    9. Kjersti M. Aagaard
    10. Paul Kievit
    11. Adam J. Chicco
    12. Jacob E. Friedman
    13. Carrie E. McCurdy

  • COVID-19 pandemic-related trauma symptoms are associated with postpartum alcohol consumption

    General Hospital Psychiatry
    1. Olivia Doyle
    2. Elizabeth K. Wood
    3. Elinor L. Sullivan
    4. Kristen Mackiewicz-Seghete
    5. Alice Graham
    6. Hanna C. Gustafsson

  • COVID-19 pandemic-related trauma symptoms are associated with postpartum alcohol consumption

    General Hospital Psychiatry
    1. Elizabeth Wood
    2. Olivia Doyle
    3. Elinor Sullivan
    4. Kristen Mackiewicz Seghete
    5. Alice Graham
    6. Hanna Bagley

  • Food desert severity mediates the association between socioeconomic status and metabolic state during pregnancy in a prospective longitudinal cohort

    Scientific Reports
    1. Elizabeth Wood
    2. Gayle Stamos
    3. A. J. Mitchell
    4. Rose Gonoud
    5. Angela Horgan
    6. Olivia Nomura
    7. Anna Young
    8. Joel Nigg
    9. Hanna Bagley
    10. Elinor Sullivan

  • Impact of Fluoride on Associations between Free Sugars Intake and Dental Caries in US Children

    JDR Clinical and Translational Research
    1. M. M. Melough
    2. S. Sathyanarayana
    3. F. V. Zohoori
    4. H. C. Gustafsson
    5. E. L. Sullivan
    6. D. L. Chi
    7. S. M. Levy
    8. C. M. McKinney

  • Impaired placental hemodynamics and function in a non-human primate model of gestational protein restriction

    Scientific Reports
    1. Jamie O. Lo
    2. Matthias C. Schabel
    3. Jessica Gaffney
    4. Katherine S. Lewandowski
    5. Christopher D. Kroenke
    6. Charles T. Roberts
    7. Brian P. Scottoline
    8. Antonio E. Frias
    9. Elinor Sullivan
    10. Victoria H.J. Roberts

  • Perinatal Western-style diet alters serotonergic neurons in the macaque raphe nuclei

    Frontiers in Neuroscience
    1. Geoffrey A. Dunn
    2. Jacqueline R. Thompson
    3. A. J. Mitchell
    4. Samantha Papadakis
    5. Matthew Selby
    6. Damien Fair
    7. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    8. Elinor L. Sullivan

  • Prenatal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure is associated with changes in rhesus macaque DNA methylation enriched for autism genes

    Clinical epigenetics
    1. Lyndsey E. Shorey-Kendrick
    2. Victoria H.J. Roberts
    3. Rahul J. D’Mello
    4. Elinor L. Sullivan
    5. Susan K. Murphy
    6. Owen J.T. Mccarty
    7. Danny J. Schust
    8. Jason C. Hedges
    9. A. J. Mitchell
    10. Jose Juanito D. Terrobias
    11. Charles A. Easley
    12. Eliot R. Spindel
    13. Jamie O. Lo

  • The association between food desert severity, socioeconomic status, and metabolic state during pregnancy in a prospective longitudinal cohort

    Scientific Reports
    1. Elizabeth K. Wood
    2. Gayle Stamos
    3. A. J. Mitchell
    4. Rose Gonoud
    5. Angela M. Horgan
    6. Olivia Nomura
    7. Anna Young
    8. Joel T. Nigg
    9. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    10. Elinor L. Sullivan

  • Behavioral coping phenotypes and associated psychosocial outcomes of pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic

    Scientific Reports
    1. Denise M. Werchan
    2. Cassandra L. Hendrix
    3. Jennifer C. Ablow
    4. Ananda B. Amstadter
    5. Autumn C. Austin
    6. Vanessa Babineau
    7. G. Anne Bogat
    8. Leigh Anne Cioffredi
    9. Elisabeth Conradt
    10. Sheila E. Crowell
    11. Dani Dumitriu
    12. William Fifer
    13. Morgan R. Firestein
    14. Wei Gao
    15. Ian H. Gotlib
    16. Alice M. Graham
    17. Kimberly D. Gregory
    18. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    19. Kathryn L. Havens
    20. Brittany R. Howell
    21. Kathryn L. Humphreys
    22. Lucy S. King
    23. Patricia A. Kinser
    24. Elizabeth E. Krans
    25. Carly Lenniger
    26. Alytia A. Levendosky
    27. Joseph S. Lonstein
    28. Rachel Marcus
    29. Catherine Monk
    30. Sara Moyer
    31. Maria Muzik
    32. Amy K. Nuttall
    33. Alexandra S. Potter
    34. Amy Salisbury
    35. Lauren C. Shuffrey
    36. Beth A. Smith
    37. Lynne Smith
    38. Elinor L. Sullivan
    39. Judy Zhou
    40. Moriah E. Thomason
    41. Natalie H. Brito

  • Chronic prenatal delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol exposure adversely impacts placental function and development in a rhesus macaque model

    Scientific Reports
    1. Victoria H.J. Roberts
    2. Matthias C. Schabel
    3. Emily R. Boniface
    4. Rahul J. D’Mello
    5. Terry K. Morgan
    6. Juanito Jose D. Terrobias
    7. Jason A. Graham
    8. Laura M. Borgelt
    9. Kathleen A. Grant
    10. Elinor L. Sullivan
    11. Jamie O. Lo

  • Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibition delays developmental programming of obesity and metabolic disease in male offspring of obese mothers

    Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease
    1. Kim Ramil C. Montaniel
    2. Matthew Bucher
    3. Elysse A. Phillips
    4. Cun Li
    5. Elinor L. Sullivan
    6. Paul Kievit
    7. Sandra Rugonyi
    8. Peter W. Nathanielsz
    9. Alina Maloyan

  • Electroencephalogram aperiodic power spectral slope can be reliably measured and predicts ADHD risk in early development

    Developmental Psychobiology
    1. Sarah L. Karalunas
    2. Brendan D. Ostlund
    3. Brittany R. Alperin
    4. McKenzie Figuracion
    5. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    6. Erika Michiko Deming
    7. Dan Foti
    8. Dylan Antovich
    9. Jason Dude
    10. Joel Nigg
    11. Elinor Sullivan

  • Geotemporal analysis of perinatal care changes and maternal mental health

    Archives of Women's Mental Health
    1. Cassandra L. Hendrix
    2. Denise Werchan
    3. Carly Lenniger
    4. Jennifer C. Ablow
    5. Ananda B. Amstadter
    6. Autumn Austin
    7. Vanessa Babineau
    8. G. Anne Bogat
    9. Leigh Anne Cioffredi
    10. Elisabeth Conradt
    11. Sheila E. Crowell
    12. Dani Dumitriu
    13. Amy J. Elliott
    14. William Fifer
    15. Morgan Firestein
    16. Wei Gao
    17. Ian Gotlib
    18. Alice Graham
    19. Kimberly D. Gregory
    20. Hanna Gustafsson
    21. Kathryn L. Havens
    22. Christine Hockett
    23. Brittany R. Howell
    24. Kathryn L. Humphreys
    25. Nancy Jallo
    26. Lucy S. King
    27. Patricia A. Kinser
    28. Alytia A. Levendosky
    29. Joseph S. Lonstein
    30. Maristella Lucchini
    31. Rachel Marcus
    32. Catherine Monk
    33. Sara Moyer
    34. Maria Muzik
    35. Amy K. Nuttall
    36. Alexandra S. Potter
    37. Cynthia Rogers
    38. Amy Salisbury
    39. Lauren C. Shuffrey
    40. Beth A. Smith
    41. Christopher D. Smyser
    42. Lynne Smith
    43. Elinor Sullivan
    44. Judy Zhou
    45. Natalie H. Brito
    46. Moriah E. Thomason

  • Maternal diet and obesity shape offspring central and peripheral inflammatory outcomes in juvenile non-human primates

    Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
    1. Geoffrey A. Dunn
    2. A. J. Mitchell
    3. Matthew Selby
    4. Damien A. Fair
    5. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    6. Elinor L. Sullivan

  • Maternal Western-style diet reduces social engagement and increases idiosyncratic behavior in Japanese macaque offspring

    Brain, Behavior, and Immunity
    1. A. J. Mitchell
    2. Seva G. Khambadkone
    3. Geoffrey Dunn
    4. Jennifer Bagley
    5. Kellie L.K. Tamashiro
    6. Damien Fair
    7. Hanna Gustafsson
    8. Elinor L. Sullivan

  • The association between heightened ADHD symptoms and cytokine and fatty acid concentrations during pregnancy

    Frontiers in Psychiatry
    1. Hanna C. Gustafsson
    2. Geoffrey A. Dunn
    3. A. J. Mitchell
    4. Kathleen F. Holton
    5. Jennifer M. Loftis
    6. Joel T. Nigg
    7. Elinor L. Sullivan