Meet Stefanie Sequeira, New Faculty Member in the Department of Psychology

Dr. Stefanie Sequeira joined the UVA Department of Psychology, in the College of Arts & Sciences, in 2023. Dr. Sequeira received her PhD in the joint Clinical-Developmental Psychology program at the University of Pittsburgh. She shared with us about her research and her background. 

Brain Institute: Briefly describe your current research projects and interests. 

Dr. Sequeira: I am interested in using fMRI and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to study and link neural and real-world indices of sensitivity to social threat and reward. Additionally, I am interested in understanding how social reward processes (measured at the levels of brain and behavior) are associated with the development of anxiety and suicidal thoughts and behaviors in youth with primary anxiety disorders. I recently received an early career grant from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to use novel behavioral tasks and EMA to study social reward processes (i.e., social reward valuation and social anhedonia in daily peer interactions) in youth at high-risk for suicide. Over the next year, I plan to pilot fMRI tasks to study the development of neural social reward processes, including social reinforcement learning, in youth high in social anxiety.

What do you find to be the most exciting and inspiring area of emerging neuroscience research? 

I am a clinical and developmental psychologist by training. With this background, I find the field of developmental affective neuroscience to be particularly exciting. One example of research in this area is the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which is a multisite study collecting rich longitudinal data (including fMRI data) on over 10,000 children and adolescents in the US, which will help us learn about how the human brain develops throughout childhood and adolescence, how the developing brain is impacted by early life experiences (e.g., stress and adversity), and how interactions between the brain and environment might contribute to increasing rates of psychopathology during adolescence. I’m hopeful that this research will have real impacts on prevention and treatment of psychopathology in youth.

Why did you decide to come to UVA? 

Many reasons! First, I was struck by the collaborative environment and multidisciplinary research teams (such as the Brain Institute and Youth-Nex) across grounds. These teams are so important for my research, and I knew I could build strong collaborations at UVA. Relatedly, I was impressed by the stellar resources and high research productivity at UVA, and felt confident I could grow my research program in meaningful ways here. Third, I felt my values strongly aligned with UVA’s commitment to teaching, mentoring, and community engagement. Finally, I found the people I met here at UVA to be warm, caring, supportive people who care deeply about bettering science and society, and who demonstrate great work-life balance. I knew these were the kind of people I wanted to surround myself with in work and in life. The mountains and fantastic restaurants in Charlottesville also didn’t hurt!

What's the best part about your job? 

I get to do what I love every day – research, teaching, mentoring, writing, editing, brainstorming new ideas. There are a lot of hats to wear in this job, but I love that every day looks different and I am constantly practicing different skills and learning new things. I will also say that one of the best and most rewarding parts of my job is interacting with students. I learn so much from my students and am grateful for their contributions to the research, to the community, and to the fields of psychology and neuroscience.

What led you to a career in neuroscience? 

I entered college at the University of Maryland as an English major with dreams of becoming a journalist. I stumbled into neuroscience research when an undergraduate research assistant position opened in the Child Development Lab. I had worked in a daycare throughout high school and was excited about continuing to work with infants and young children. As an RA, I trained in EEG and developed my own EEG task to study brain development in infancy, and quickly grew to love psychology and neuroscience. I knew from that point on I wanted a career that would allow me to continue studying brain development. For current undergraduates, the moral of my story is, if you think you might enjoy a career in neuroscience or psychology, seek out research experiences as early as possible! I’m happy to talk with any students who may not know how to locate these experiences or which experiences might be best for them.

What advice do you have for neuroscience trainees? 

Don’t be afraid to try something new- neuroscience as a field is quickly progressing and our techniques are evolving, presenting so many exciting opportunities for trainees. Additionally, collaboration and team science often make for the most impactful (and fun!) work. Networking is not an easy skill to develop, but it’s helpful to start thinking about strategies to build your network early.

What's something new that you've learned recently (at work or outside of work)? 

I recently learned that you can’t really wash your walls with a kitchen sponge. Learned this the hard way… :) 

In terms of neuroscience, I recently attended a developmental affective neuroscience conference that emphasized translational research. We had a long and rich discussion there of how the term “plasticity” is often used by clinical and developmental neuroimagers studying human adolescent neurodevelopment. However, the neuroscientists conducting animal research shared that they have a more specific definition of plasticity that does not fit the way it’s being used by many of us human researchers. This was an important reminder of how the language we use is so important, and how ongoing conversations and collaborations between animal and human neuroscientists are critical for moving the field forward.

Where are you from originally?

I’m originally from New Jersey, about 30 minutes from NYC. My parents actually just sold the house my family lived in for 32 years and now they live an 8-minute walk from me in Charlottesville! I’ve lived all around the East Coast – NJ, Washington (DC), Pittsburgh, and Providence (RI). Charlottesville is a great city to add to the list, and I appreciate having many more sunny days than I had in Pittsburgh or Providence.

What's your favorite way to spend a day off? 

Getting outside! I love going for a hike, walking around downtown, kayaking, or even just sitting outside my home admiring Carter Mountain. If it’s too cold or rainy, I am also very happy staying in with a good book (often historical fiction) or a scary movie, and take-out Thai or Indian food is probably on the menu.

What is a surefire way to make you laugh? 

Send me (or make me??) a good meme. Or more specifically, the viral video of the young girl trying to pet a bear thinking it’s a dog is cracking me up right now (if you haven’t seen it, please stop what you’re doing and look for it).

Dr. Sequeira was hired as a part of the Grand Challenges Research Investments in Brain and Neuroscience. The Grand Challenges are a key component of the University's 2030 "Great & Good" Strategic Plan, a set of initiatives focused on bringing the University to preeminence in key focus areas while acting in service to society.