Professor of Psychiatry, Psychiatry & Human Behavior
School of Medicine

Adolescent mood disorders, substance use disorders, obesity and pain

GRANT: "Ethnic Influences on Stress, EnergyBalance and Obesity in Adolescents"

GRANT: "Prevention of Adolescent Risky Behaviors: Neural Markers of Intervention Effects"

GRANT: “Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Neurocircuitry in Adolescent Depression”

GRANT: "Racial/Ethnic Influences on Early Vascular Aging and Cardiac Strain: Role of Cumulative Stress, Inflammatory and Metabolic Burden"

GRANT: "Effects of Early Life Adversity on Substance Use Problems in Adolescents: Biobehavioral Risk Mechanisms"

PUBMED PUBLICATIONS: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/uma.rao.2/bibliography/40568476/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Dr. Rao has completed her training in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook as well as a post-doctoral research fellowship in child Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Since completing training, she has had academic as well as clinical and research leadership positions in several nationally and internationally recognized academic institutions until she joined UCI in April 2017. Currently, she serves as Director of the UCI Biobehavioral Research on Adolescent Development (BRoAD) Lab and Director of Education and Research in Psychiatry at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

Dr. Rao is a clinical researcher and has received continuous funding support from the National Institutes of Health as well as private foundations and endowments. She has published numerous research articles and has received awards from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Indo-American Psychiatric Association and community agencies for scientific and volunteer contributions. She has served on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and currently is the editor of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry News.

Nathan Cummings Foundation Award for the Best Paper on Suicide or
Depression (The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) 1995
Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (National Institute of Mental Health) 1996-2002
Academic Senate Award (UCLA School of Medicine) 1997-1998
Stein-Oppenheimer Endowment Award for Promising Research Proposal
(UCLA School of Medicine) 1997-1998
Young Investigator Award (National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) 1999-2002
Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Award for the Best Paper on Depression
or Suicide – Co-author (The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) 1999
Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation Award for the Best Paper on Depression
or Suicide (The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) 2000
Visionary Award for Community Service and Research (Sierra Tucson Organization) 2010
Keynote Speaker (International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology) 2011
Outstanding Academician Award (Indo-American Psychiatric Association) 2014
Keynote Speaker (Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Mental Health Summit) 2018

Dr. Rao is Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She is also the Director of Education and Research in Psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).
Dr. Rao has been involved in mood and substance use disorders research for over 30 years. Her primary areas of interest are adolescent depressive and addictive disorders, including neurobiological and psychosocial predictors of onset and longitudinal clinical course in youth with familial and/or environmental risk, developmental/ethnic influences on the phenomenology and neurobiological processes, and translational intervention research. Recently, she has extended her work to include physical/medical conditions that frequently co-occur with these disorders, specifically obesity and pain, from a health disparities perspective.
Dr. Rao has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health as well as private foundations for this work. She has published numerous research articles and has received awards from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Indo-American Psychiatric Association and community agencies for scientific and volunteer contributions.

See the link to website for publications.

R01 MD010148: "Ethnic Influences on Stress, Energy Balance and Obesity in Adolescents". Funded by NIH/NIMHD. Funding Period: 02/24/2017 to 02/29/2024.

R01 DA040966: "Prevention of Adolescent Risky Behaviors: Neural Markers of Intervention Effects". Funded by NIH/NIDA. Funding Period: 07/01/2017 to 03/31/2024.

R01 MH108155: "Effects of Childhood Maltreatment on Neurocircuitry in Adolescent Depression". Funded by NIH/NIMH. Funding Period: 08/01/2017 to 03/31/2025.

R01 HL164823: "Racial/Ethnic Influences on Early Vascular Aging and Cardiac Strain: Role of Cumulative Stress, Inflammatory and Metabolic Burden". Funded by NIH/NHLBI. Funding Period: 08/01/2022 to 06/30/2026)

R01DA058794: "Effects of Early Life Adversity on Substance Use Problems in Adolescents: Biobehavioral Risk Mechanisms". Funded by NIH/NIDA. Funding Period: 07/15/2023 to 04/30/2028

Distinguished Fellow, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Fellow, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

BRoAD Lab: https://sites.uci.edu/broad/

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6359

Last updated
01/19/2024