Tiffany Ho, PhD
Dr. Ho is a cognitive neuroscientist with expertise in non-invasive MR imaging and training in affective science and developmental psychology. Dr. Ho's research program focuses on how stress-related changes in key neural circuits during sensitive periods of development contribute to depression risk and other related conditions. The primary goal of Dr. Ho's research program is to inform the development and refinement of interventions aimed at treating or preventing depression in adolescents, including identifying who may achieve the most gains from existing treatments based on their psychobiological profiles.
Current projects in the lab include:
(1) Characterizing the biobehavioral mechanisms by which experiences of early adversity and perceptions of stress influence brain phenotypes and neurodevelopmental trajectories in adolescents
(2) Understanding the confluence of inflammation and glutamate on neural circuitry, symptom progression, and treatment response in depressed adolescents
(3) Elucidating the roles of pubertal hormones on susceptibility to stress, mood dynamics, and longer term neurodevelopment
(4) Identifying multi-level predictors of depression and suicidal thoughts and predictors in adolescents using machine learning analytics
(5) Generating neuroscientifically validated digital phenotypes of mood (i.e., scalable biomarkers) in collaboration with Dr. Nicholas Allen at the University of Oregon / Ksana Health
(6) Conducting harmonized meta-analytic investigations on the effects of stress and depression on brain morphometry in collaboration with ENIGMA
Current projects in the lab include:
(1) Characterizing the biobehavioral mechanisms by which experiences of early adversity and perceptions of stress influence brain phenotypes and neurodevelopmental trajectories in adolescents
(2) Understanding the confluence of inflammation and glutamate on neural circuitry, symptom progression, and treatment response in depressed adolescents
(3) Elucidating the roles of pubertal hormones on susceptibility to stress, mood dynamics, and longer term neurodevelopment
(4) Identifying multi-level predictors of depression and suicidal thoughts and predictors in adolescents using machine learning analytics
(5) Generating neuroscientifically validated digital phenotypes of mood (i.e., scalable biomarkers) in collaboration with Dr. Nicholas Allen at the University of Oregon / Ksana Health
(6) Conducting harmonized meta-analytic investigations on the effects of stress and depression on brain morphometry in collaboration with ENIGMA
- Instructor, 09/2019 - Psychiatry, Stanford University
- Postdoctoral Training, 07/2018 - Psychology, Stanford University
- Postdoctoral Training, 12/2015 - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco
- Ph.D., 08/2012 - Cognitive Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego
- B.A., 05/2006 - Cognitive Science, University of California, Berkeley
Gray Matter
Gyrus Cinguli
Puberty
White Matter
Suicidal Ideation
Adolescent
Nerve Net
Gonadal Hormones
Nucleus Accumbens
Amygdala
Limbic System
Depressive Disorder, Major
Depression
Corpus Striatum
Suicide
June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2027 - Inflammatory and Glutamatergic Mechanisms of Sustained Threat in Adolescents with Depression: Toward Predictors of Treatment Response and Clinical Course , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01MH127176
June 1, 2018 - May 31, 2022 - The Roles of Inflammatory and Glutamatergic Processes in the Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Underlying Adolescent Depression , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K01MH117442
Contact information
350 Parnassus Avenue, #840
San Francisco, CA 94117
United States