Bridget Callaghan, PhD

University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Bridget Callaghan is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffery Term Endowed Chair in Developmental Psychology at UCLA. Her research interests focus on how early experiences influence the development of mental and physical health across the lifespan, and across generations. Nearly one in three people will experience mental illness in their lifetime, often alongside physical health conditions. Dr. Callaghan’s program of research seeks to uncover the mechanisms linking early life experiences to these outcomes, with the ultimate goal of informing better interventions across development.

In her Brain and Body Lab (BABLab), Dr. Callaghan and her team use multidisciplinary methods to answer their research questions, including behavior, neural systems (fMRI), the microbiome, and physiological measures such as gastric function, heart rate, and skin conductance. Their work highlights how factors like trauma history, interoception, and social experience shape health trajectories from childhood through adulthood and pregnancy.

Dr. Callaghan received her Bachelor’s degree, Master’s in Clinical Psychology, and PhD from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and completed postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York City. Her research has been supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health, National Institutes of Aging, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

For more information, visit the BABLab website, follow Dr. Callaghan on social media (Twitter: @Dr_BCallaghan; Bluesky: @drbcallaghan.bsky.social), or email her at bcallaghan@ucla.edu.