Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded a Project Grant of $200,376.00 under the Mental Health Research Grants program (CFDA 93.242) to The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco for research activities spanning April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2031. The grant funds a longitudinal research investigation examining the mechanisms through which prenatal maternal inflammation (PMI) and parenting behaviors influence child mental health outcomes. The research leverages an existing, sociodemographically diverse pregnancy cohort of 1,303 mother-child pairs to test hypotheses regarding the partial mediation of associations between prenatal immune function and childhood psychopathology through parenting mechanisms, with particular emphasis on understanding how maternal sickness behaviors resulting from elevated inflammation may impair optimal parental responsiveness to infant signals.

The project deliverables include research training in prenatal immune biology and advanced longitudinal statistical modeling, empirical investigation of direct and indirect pathways linking prenatal maternal inflammation to child mental health via parenting quality, and development and piloting of a mentored intervention study informed by research findings. This grant represents NIMH's investment in foundational research addressing the developmental origins of mental health and disease, with applications toward prevention of psychopathology through understanding intergenerational stress transmission mechanisms during the critical prenatal and early postnatal periods.