World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

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Psychology

D-Index
98
Citations
35174
World Ranking
679
National Ranking
428

Medicine

D-Index
99
Citations
36857
World Ranking
8585
National Ranking
4423

Overview

Curt A. Sandman is affiliated with the University of California, Irvine in the United States. Their research spans multiple areas within medicine and psychology, with significant contributions to clinical psychology, pediatrics, perinatology and child health, public health, environmental and occupational health, social psychology, and behavioral neuroscience.

Their work primarily addresses the following main topics:

  • Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Birth, Development, and Health
  • Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Infant Development and Preterm Care
  • Racial and Ethnic Identity Research

Sandman has published extensively in journals including:

  • Journal of Affective Disorders
  • Development and Psychopathology
  • Psychoneuroendocrinology
  • Neurobiology of Stress
  • Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience

Representative recent papers from their body of work include:

  • A predictable home environment may protect child mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021, Neurobiology of Stress
  • The acute and persisting impact of COVID-19 on trajectories of adolescent depression: Sex differences and social connectedness, 2021, Journal of Affective Disorders
  • Aberrant Maturation of the Uncinate Fasciculus Follows Exposure to Unpredictable Patterns of Maternal Signals, 2020, Journal of Neuroscience
  • Development of the infant gut microbiome predicts temperament across the first year of life, 2021, Development and Psychopathology
  • Prenatal maternal psychological distress and fetal developmental trajectories: associations with infant temperament, 2020, Development and Psychopathology

The scientist frequently collaborates with several coauthors, including:

  • Laura M. Glynn
  • Elysia Poggi Davis
  • Hal S. Stern
  • Tallie Z. Baram
  • Sabrina R. Liu

Their interdisciplinary research integrates clinical psychology and medicine, often focusing on early developmental periods, maternal health, and the neurobiological and psychosocial mechanisms that influence child and adolescent outcomes.

Best Publications

  • The association between prenatal stress and infant birth weight and gestational age at birth: A prospective investigation

    Pathik D. Wadhwa;Curt A. Sandman;Manuel Porto;Christine Dunkel-Schetter

  • Psychological adaptation and birth outcomes: the role of personal resources, stress, and sociocultural context in pregnancy.

    Christine Killingsworth Rini;Christine Dunkel-Schetter;Pathik D. Wadhwa;Curt A. Sandman

  • Altered Distribution of Nicotinamide-Adenine Dinucleotide Phosphate—Diaphorase Cells in Frontal Lobe of Schizophrenics Implies Disturbances of Cortical Development

    Schahram Akbarian;William E. Bunney;Steven G. Potkin;Sharon B. Wigal

  • The timing of prenatal exposure to maternal cortisol and psychosocial stress is associated with human infant cognitive development.

    Elysia Poggi Davis;Curt A. Sandman

  • Children's Brain Development Benefits from Longer Gestation

    Elysia Poggi Davis;Claudia Buss;L. Tugan Muftuler;Kevin Head

  • Prenatal exposure to maternal depression and cortisol influences infant temperament.

    Elysia Poggi Davis;Laura M. Glynn;Christine Dunkel Schetter;Calvin Hobel

  • Maternal cortisol over the course of pregnancy and subsequent child amygdala and hippocampus volumes and affective problems

    Claudia Buss;Elysia Poggi Davis;Babak Shahbaba;Jens C. Pruessner

  • When stress happens matters: effects of earthquake timing on stress responsivity in pregnancy.

    Laura M. Glynn;Pathik D. Wadhwa;Christine Dunkel-Schetter;Aleksandra Chicz-DeMet

  • Prenatal maternal stress programs infant stress regulation

    Elyssia Poggi Davis;Laura M. Glynn;Laura M. Glynn;Feizal Waffarn;Curt A. Sandman

  • Selective alterations in gene expression for NMDA receptor subunits in prefrontal cortex of schizophrenics

    S Akbarian;NJ Sucher;D Bradley;A Tafazzoli

  • A Novel Mouse Model for Acute and Long-Lasting Consequences of Early Life Stress

    Courtney J. Rice;Curt A. Sandman;Mohammed R. Lenjavi;Tallie Z. Baram

  • High pregnancy anxiety during mid-gestation is associated with decreased gray matter density in 6-9-year-old children.

    Claudia Buss;Elysia Poggi Davis;L. Tugan Muftuler;Kevin Head

  • Maternal social support predicts birth weight and fetal growth in human pregnancy.

    Pamela J. Feldman;Christine Dunkel-Schetter;Curt A. Sandman;Pathik D. Wadhwa

  • Placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), spontaneous preterm birth, and fetal growth restriction: A prospective investigation

    Pathik D. Wadhwa;Thomas J. Garite;Manuel Porto;Laura Glynn

  • Elevated maternal cortisol early in pregnancy predicts third trimester levels of placental corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH): priming the placental clock.

    Curt A. Sandman;Laura Glynn;Christine Dunkel Schetter;Pathik Wadhwa

  • Dysfunctional nurturing behavior in rat dams with limited access to nesting material: A clinically relevant model for early-life stress

    Autumn S. Ivy;Kristen L. Brunson;Curt Sandman;Tallie Z. Baram

  • Stressed-out, or in (utero)?

    Sarit Avishai-Eliner;Kristen L. Brunson;Curt A. Sandman;Tallie Z. Baram

  • Prenatal psychosocial factors and the neuroendocrine axis in human pregnancy.

    Pathik D. Wadhwa;Christine Dunkel-Schetter;Aleksandra Chicz-DeMet;Manuel Porto

  • Perceived partner support in pregnancy predicts lower maternal and infant distress.

    Lynlee R. Tanner Stapleton;Christine Dunkel Schetter;Erika Westling;Christine Rini

  • Racial differences in birth outcomes: the role of general, pregnancy, and racism stress.

    Tyan Parker Dominguez;Christine Dunkel-Schetter;Laura M. Glynn;Calvin Hobel

  • Stress, infection and preterm birth: a biobehavioural perspective

    Pathik D. Wadhwa;Jennifer F. Culhane;Virginia Rauh;Shirish S. Barve

Frequent Co-Authors

Laura M. Glynn
Laura M. Glynn Chapman University
Elysia Poggi Davis
Elysia Poggi Davis University of Denver
Abba J. Kastin
Abba J. Kastin Louisiana State University
William P. Hetrick
William P. Hetrick Indiana University
Pathik D. Wadhwa
Pathik D. Wadhwa University of California, Irvine
Claudia Buss
Claudia Buss University of California, Irvine
Calvin J. Hobel
Calvin J. Hobel Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
William E. Bunney
William E. Bunney University of California, Irvine
Steven G. Potkin
Steven G. Potkin University of California, Irvine
Christine Dunkel Schetter
Christine Dunkel Schetter University of California, Los Angeles

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