Strahm Lab

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Primary Research Focus

The Strahm Lab focuses on the interactions between stress and health to discern the pathways by which stress affects health, with emphasis on reproductive health and health disparities.

Our current projects are designed to assess the associations between maternal psychosocial experiences and blood glucose metabolization during pregnancy and how these factors influence pregnancy and postpartum health, as well as the developmental outcomes of their children.

Primary Research Group

Behavioral Science

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About the Strahm Lab

About Anna Strahm, Assistant Scientist

Dr. Anna Strahm received her PhD in health and social psychology at North Dakota State University in 2020 and her master’s degree in experimental psychology from Washington State University in 2016. She is a postdoctoral scholar with the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center & The Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research.

Currently, Dr. Strahm is an assistant scientist at Sanford Research. She is involved in research exploring the effects of stress on health.

Academic Affiliations and Training Content

  • PsychoNeuroImmunology Research Society (2020-Present)
  • National Postdoctoral Association (2020-Present)
  • Society of Behavioral Medicine (2018-Present)
  • American Psychosomatic Society (2017-Present)
  • American Association of University Women (2016-Present)
  • Psi Chi (2014-Present)

Publications

Christian, L.M., Cole, S.W., McDade, T., Morgan, E., Strahm, A.M., & Kamp Dush, C. (2021). A Biopsychosocial Framework for Understanding Sexual and Gender Minority Health: A Call for Action. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 129, 107-116.

Christian, L.M., Webber, S., Gillespie, S., Strahm, A.M., Schaffir, J., Gokun, Y., & Porter, K. (2021). Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Sleep and Odds of Spontaneous Early Birth: Implications for Racial Inequities in Birth Outcomes. Sleep. Zsab133.

Strahm, A.M., Bagne, A., & Rued, H., Larson, K.J., Roemmich, J.N., & Hilmert, C.J. (2020). Prenatal traumatic stress and offspring hair cortisol concentration: A nine year follow up to the Red River Flood Pregnancy Study. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 104579.

Awards

  • Meritorious Abstract, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2020)
  • Young Investigators Colloquium Scholar , American Psychosomatic Society (2019)
  • Comprehensive Training in Oral and Craniofacial Sciences Program, T32 National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)/NIH and the Ohio State University College of Dentistry (2021-2022)
  • Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, Psychological Stress, Stress Reactivity and Blood Glucose Metabolization during Pregnancy, North Dakota State University College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies (2019-2020)
  • Co-Investigator, The Impacts of Prenatal Nutrition, Stress, and Reactivity on Blood Sugar and Perinatal Outcomes, Sanford Health and North Dakota State University Research Seed Grant (2018-2020)
  • Primary Investigator, Healthy American Indian Pregnancy Project, Henry P. David Research Grant, American Psychological Foundation (2018-2020)

Meet the Team

Valentina Ayala Catalan

Research Specialist

Valentina earned a Psychology degree from Santo Tomas University, Santiago-Chile in 2016. The same year, she moved to Scotland-UK where she was trained in English as a second Language. She is using her skills and knowledge to assist Dr. Strahm with the Maternal Stress and Blood Sugar Metabolization During Pregnancy Study, developing protocols and managing lab experiments.