Lauren Asarnow, PhD

Dr. Asarnow’s research program aims to reduce the burden of mental illness in youth by developing behavioral interventions that are effective, youth friendly, engaging, widely disseminable and easily accessible. Her program of research has primarily focused on sleep as a potential target for intervention in the prevention and treatment of mental and physical health problems. Dr. Asarnow has shown that late bedtime is an important target for early intervention for the prevention of adverse emotional, academic and physical health outcomes among youth. Her current recent program aims to utilize an experimental design to (a) improve sleep health (through a sleep focused treatment), (b) determine whether a sleep focused treatment improves depression and anxiety symptoms, and a known biological marker of risk for depression and anxiety, cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a stress exposure, and (c) elucidate target mechanisms underlying the effect of poor sleep health on depression and anxiety symptoms, and cortisol measures. Dr. Asarnow developed and is currently testing an innovative adaptation of an existing evidence based intervention to improve sleep in adolescents that can be accessed through mobile phones or computers, an approach that will increase the accessibility of the treatment.