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Prospective students - schedule an online meeting with Dr. Swartz

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Ecology. I received my PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2013 and then completed a postdoc in the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at Duke University until I joined the faculty at UC Davis in July 2016. I have moved around a lot for my schooling (originally from Los Angeles, I’ve lived in the Northeast, Midwest, and Southern US) and so I have quite a bit of experience with the stresses and excitement of moving away from home or moving to a new location (and I have tons of tips I’ve learned along the way on making these transitions successfully that I’m happy to discuss with students!).

In my research, I am interested in understanding how biology (e.g., immune function, brain function) and the environment (e.g., stress) interact to influence the developing brain and mental health. I credit the excellent mentoring I received at three different points in my career as an undergraduate student, as a graduate student, and as a postdoc with helping me to get to where I am today. It is my goal to provide similar mentoring to my students to help them achieve their career goals. Some of the ways I help support my students include meeting on a regular basis so that we can communicate regularly, helping with setting goals and prioritizing to make sure students are making progress while also maintaining a healthy work/life balance, and trying to foster a positive, supportive, non-competitive lab environment, which is the type of environment I enjoyed as a graduate student and post doc. I am very happy to talk to undergraduate students considering a PhD and academic career to see if it would be a good fit for you.

Research Interests 
My research interests include examining risk and protective factors for the development of mental health problems during adolescence and young adulthood. I focus mainly on the interaction of brain function (measured with functional MRI) with other risk and protective factors (e.g., inflammation, stress, other contextual factors) in understanding what places some individuals at higher risk for mental health problems compared to others. In particular, I focus on anxiety and depression. The goal is to use this research to help us understand how mental health problems develop, and to use this knowledge to identify potential ways to prevent and treat these problems.

Diversity Statement 

I aim to create a welcoming and supportive work environment for all students and to provide support as a mentor to help students build on the strengths that they bring to the lab. It is my hope that like my undergraduate professor, I can inspire students of all backgrounds to pursue research and explore fields of study that they may not have initially considered.

Grants

Swartz, J.R. (PI): “Risk and protective factors associated with the development of depression and allostatic load in young adults of Mexican origin.” R01 research grant, National Institute of Mental Health.

Swartz, J.R. (PI): “Brazilian-American Initiative on Neuroimaging for Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence (BRAIN-IDEA)”. R21 Research grant. National Institutes of Health.

Selected Publications 

A selected list of Dr. Swartz's publications is available here.