Stella Tsotsi

Faglige interesser

I am primarily interested in risk factors that may make children and adolescents more susceptible to developing psychopathology. These risk factors involve: 1) child neurocognitive factors, such as executive functions; 2) child emotional factors, such as emotion regulation and temperament; 3) parental factors, such as mental health issues and aspects of parenting (transgenerational transmission of mental health issues); 4) biological markers, such as genotype and epigenetic processes. I am also interested in devising and implementing early interventions to assist the more cognitively disadvantaged children in buffering the risk. I am a trained clinical neuropsychologist and have research experience working in large multidisciplinary cohort studies focusing on the above-mentioned research interests.

My current research involves examining the role of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in the association between early life stress, aspects of parenting and child socio-emotional difficulties.

Undervisning

• PSY4205, Prevention of Mental Health Disorders (MA)

• PSY4521, Project Development and Methodology (MA)

Bakgrunn

Høyere utdanning

• PhD, Psychology (specialization: Clinical Neuropsychology), Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2009-2013

• Master of Science (MSc), Psychology (specialization: Clinical Neuropsychology), University of Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2006-2007

• Bachelor of Science (BSc), Psychology, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2000-2004

Jobbhistorikk

• Research Scientist, Centre for Research in Child Development, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, April 2018-November 2020

• Post-doctoral Research Fellow; Neurodevelopment Research Centre, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, August 2014 – March 2018

• Research Associate; Neuropsychology, 1st Psychiatry Clinic, School of Medicine, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, March 2010 – June 2014

• Instructor; Clinical Training Program in Mental Health, 1st Psychiatry Clinic-GPH Papageorgiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, October 2011-June 2012

• Part-time Teaching Fellow; School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, January 2011-December 2012

• Adjunct Part-Time Lecturer; City College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, Thessaloniki, Greece, January 2010-September 2012

• Research Assistant, Marie Curie Reintegration Grant Post-doctoral Fellowship entitled, Development of Culturally Appropriate Neuropsychological Tests for the Greek Population, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, November 2009-September 2011

• Research Assistant, Pythagoras II-Reinforcement of University Research Teams grant entitled, Brain and Social Cognition: Neurocognitive Mechanisms, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, November 2005-April 2006

Priser

• Best poster prize. Poster presented at the 2nd Academic Psychiatry Symposium (Department of Psychiatric Medicine, National University of Singapore; Singapore, September 25, 2014). Fetal DNA methylation of cortisol-related genes and infant neurobehavior at 6 months: the role of antenatal maternal anxiety.

• Best poster prize. Poster presented at the 2nd International Congress on Neurobiology, Psychopharmacology and Treatment Guidance (Aristotle University; Thessaloniki, Greece, November 24-27, 2011). A longitudinal evaluation of neuropsychological findings in 1st psychotic episode patients: A six-month follow-up.

• Research Training Award: Fellow at the Social Cognitive Neuroscience International Summer School – International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA; Trieste, Italy, July 15-28, 2013).

• Research Training Award: Fellow at the “Pathology and Genetics of Human Cognition” course – Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, New Hampshire, U.S.A., April 9-13, 2012).

• Research Training Award: Fellow at the Visceral Mind Summer School – University of Bangor (Bangor, Wales, U.K., September 5-9, 2011).

Verv

I am a peer reviewer for the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meetings and various journals, including the Journal of Affective Disorders and the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Samarbeid

I collaborate with researchers in Irvine (California, USA), Montreal and Ottawa (Canada), Amsterdam and Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Saarbrücken (Germany) and Singapore in understanding how parental mental health and parenting shapes children’s emotional competence and susceptibility to psychopathology.