Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Singh’s research investigates the developmental psychopathology, pathophysiology, and treatment of pediatric mood disorders, as well as methods to protect and preserve function before and after the onset of depression or mania. Using an integration of clinical, neuroimaging, genetic, and neuroendocrine tools, her research aims to explore the complex risk factors associated with the development of serious mood disorders in children and adolescents. Dr. Singh and her collaborators have also been actively exploring pharmacological and psychotherapeutic methods of treating mood symptoms associated with and leading up to these disorders in youth. Through national collaborations, she is examining the benefits of a combination of family focused psychotherapy with medication in youth offspring of parents with bipolar disorder to reduce mood symptoms and family stress. In addition, she and her group have been conducting studies examining the neuroimaging effects pharmacological and psychosocial interventions – specifically exploring whether such interventions can reduce limbic hyperactivity and increase prefrontal cognitive control. These areas of research aspire to advance understanding of the core mechanisms, endophenotypes, and early interventions for pediatric onset mood disorders. Dr. Singh has been awarded several NIMH awards integrating innovative neuroimaging techniques and mechanisms of emotion regulation to understand the neurodevelopmental basis of mood disorders among children.
Dr. Singh has received many honors through the course of her career, including the NARSAD Young Investigator Award, the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Depression Fellowship, the American Psychiatric Association’s Young Minds in Psychiatry Award and Blanche F. Ittleson Award for Research in Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, Michigan State University’s Distinguished Young Alumni Award,and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's Virginia Q. Anthony Outstanding Woman Leader Award. She was also selected as the Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Faculty Scholar in Pediatric Translational Medicine.
Dr. Singh earned her MD at Michigan State University and her MS at University of Michigan. She completed her combined residency in Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. After two years of neuroimaging training at the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research at Stanford University, she joined the faculty at Stanford in 2009.
