Lauren Laifer

Poster title for Research Study: Rest Isn't Equal - Sleep and Black Pregnancy Experiences Research Study. A collaborative team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and community partners are studying how Black mothers relate to their bodies and how they sleep during pregnancy. What will I have to do? Answer questions about your sleep and connection to your body twice a day for 14 days Meet with the researcher for a Zoom interview about your experiences. Who is eligible? Black women who are currently pregnant, Access to a smartphone and internet Qualifying participants can be paid up to $200 for completing the study Learn more about sleep and health during pregnancy. You can participate by filling out our screening survey and we will contact you: https://redcap.link/PRISMStudy We will share more info on the study and all participation is voluntary. Questions? Want to know more? Contact Us! email: kinkelramss@upmc.edu

We are currently recruiting for a research study on Black mothers’ experiences of sleep and bodily awareness during pregnancy. If you are currently pregnant, identify as Black, and live in the Pittsburgh area, consider filling out our screener to see if you qualify! 

redcap.link/PRISMStudy

How Congress can restore the independence of US science Members must go beyond reinstating US government research spending and re-establish decentralized governance at the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.

The most impt change at #NIH and to US science this year is bigger than grant cancellations— it’s how the agency is governed.

For 75 years NIH has been largely independent of presidential control. That’s changed this year. New piece from me and @nataliebaviles.bsky.social in @nature.com
🧪

13/ “The categories of people I am being asked to remove from grants share the same identities of people being forcibly removed, detained, and killed in our country...

10/ “I wish I could see censoring grants as saving science, but it’s a short term monetary solution with a long term goal of ultimately discriminating against who we most need to serve...

Are you a postbac (or soon-to-be-postbac) interested in interdisciplinary research on sexual and reproductive health? Come work with us! Application review starts March 13 and continues until the position is filled. employment.unl.edu/postings/99472

Screenshot from an NIH website reading: "Table 1 shows the number of principal investigators (PIs) applying for or receiving an R01-equivalent grant in FYs 2021 to 2025, disaggregated by career stage. NIH supported 1,423 and 1,144 ESIs in FYs 2024 and 2025, respectively. The decrease seen in FY 2025 may likely be due in part to NIH implementing a requirement to use 50% of its remaining competing Research Project Grant (RPG) funds (starting in June 2025) for full-year funded competing RPGs, which was expected to lead to fewer awards and support fewer researchers overall."

Check this out straight from the NIH website, acknowledging that multiyear funding was likely responsible for a 20% decrease in early stage investigators.

And that it was expected.

A strange approach for someone so committed to the next generation of scientists.

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Screenshot of job ad for postdoc. Follow link for details.

T32 Postdoc position in developmental psychopathology at UMN Institute of Child Development! There are many excellent primary mentors available, as well as an even better set of secondary mentors to choose from (including me). See link for details, due April 1. drive.google.com/file/d/18SoO...

Are you a junior faculty member interested in spending 2-4 weeks at Princeton Psych? Consider applying for our Microsabbatical program! It’s a fully funded visit for professional development and creating long-term collaborations.
psych.princeton.edu/diversity/mi...

Happy match day eve to all who are celebrating 🤞

I've been thinking lately about how our field seems to have moved on to other conversations (AI AI AI AI AI AI AI AI), and yet none of our existing problems (pre-degree fellowship, EPPP, licensure laws) have budged... 🆘

I'm looking for a postdoc to work on our NIH-funded R01 which is a longitudinal cohort of adolescents (13-20) doing EMA and passive text sensing! Please apply, especially if you have experience in the analysis OR collection of these data.

PLEASE SHARE!!

indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/32132

Lower fetal heart rate variability and parenting stress associate with toddler psychopathology risk - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Lower fetal heart rate variability and parenting stress associate with toddler psychopathology risk

Do individual differences in fetal physiology shape later sensitivity to early environments? Excited to share our new paper: interactions between fetal heart rate variability and postnatal parenting stress were associated with toddler externalizing behaviors!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out our Perspective now published in Nature Mental Heath:

Confronting Crisis and Reclaiming Purpose in Psychological Science

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44220-025-00575-4

74,000 patients enrolled in clinical trials were affected.

You don’t terminate funding for clinical trials midway & “order” patient care to continue.

That’s not how it works.

I can’t tell whether Jay Bhattacharya is lying or just showing off his sparkling incompetence.

🧪 archive.today/ooHj6

Risk of maternal death during pregnancy greatly underestimated, study finds A new study comparing deaths of pregnant people and of those who have an abortion show that risk of death due to pregnancy is three times higher than previously estimated.

Sad. Risk of maternal death during pregnancy greatly underestimated, study finds, "The new analysis found that the mortality risk from pregnancy (including up to one year postpartum) is 44 to 70 times higher than the mortality risk from abortion" www.brown.edu/news/2026-01...

When everything is bad, there is no thing that's the worst. But, this is bad.

This is BAD.

SAMHSA funding is critical for mental health, prevention of suicide and overdose deaths, and equitable access to treatment.

NIH Pauses New Funding for Grants That Include ‘Health Equity,’ ‘Structural Racism,’ Pending Review New guidance to the agency dictates staff must use a “text analysis tool” to identify programs deemed “misaligned” with the administration.

NEWS: NIH will pause new funding for grants that include "misaligned" terms like "health equity" and "structural racism."

Agency staff are required to use a "computational text analysis tool" to identify grants that include the unsanctioned terms.

www.notus.org/health-scien...

The Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at UNL is hiring a Research Assistant Professor! Work with my wonderful colleague Tim Nelson on NIH-funded developmental/health projects and grow your own line of research. The DCN Lab is an amazing team with lots of opportunities and support.

Pennsylvania has an important Supreme Court race coming up on Tuesday, November 4. If you live in the Keystone State, or know someone who does, vote YES to retain three justices who will protect your fundamental rights and freedoms.

Accepting Clinical or Counselling Psychology Grad Student?

Are you applying to a PhD in Clinical or Counseling Psychology? Here is a list of mentors who are taking students. Please circulate widely (and on X) so all applicants can benefit 😀. If you are mentoring please do add your name!
#clinicalpsychology @abctnow.bsky.social

Are you accepting PhD applications in Clinical Psychology for Fall 2026 (U.S.)?
If so, please consider adding your name to the document linked in the comments. Our hope is to help reduce the load on applicants.

Please share widely and on X! #clinicalpsychology @abctnow.bsky.social

A Quiet Policy Shift That Could Devastate American Science Why NIH’s sudden move to multi-year grant funding should alarm every principal investigator and university

This is a VERY important read about the status of NIH funding & how funding works. Labs all over the country are feeling the effects of this policy change. Last year, 10% of grants got funded.

The number will be reduced this year & beyond. 🧵

🧪 scienceandfreedomalliance.substack.com/p/a-quiet-po...

Supreme Court allows NIH to stop making nearly $800M in research grants for now But the court, in its emergency docket order, also left in place by a 5-4 order a lower court ruling that threw out NIH memos that enforced the administration's policies.

The ideological cancellation of $800 million of scientific research grants because they supposedly focused on DEI was just backed by the Supreme Court. This is horrific on so many levels.

Yes it's actually good that we have fMRI to know this, because men's parental bond has been understudied & essentialist narratives continue to insist that only women have "maternal instinct." Showing how the male brain responds to infant stimuli helps us appreciate human adaptations to fatherhood!

And just like that, a mere 7 years later, I officially earned my PhD and had the privilege of being hooded by my dad, the OG Dr. Laifer. I cannot thank my wonderful mentors, labmates, family, and friends enough for their guidance and never ending support ❤️

Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to improve the process of Federal

THIS IS VERY BAD.

Trump just signed an EO giving political appointees the job of approving all federal grants.

There is a lot to unpack in this, so sit tight. But it’s decidedly very bad.

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking – The White House

American Psychological Foundation released a call for applications for crisis funding to support early career researchers who had grants terminated. Looks like a great opportunity!

ampsychfdn.org/funding/dacf/

Our paper with guidance for mental health researchers, clinicians, and advocates in the current era of abortion restrictions is officially published online. This paper is for everyone, including folks who don’t actively study or treat reproductive mental health. journals.sagepub.com/eprint/NZWIK...

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!!
The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children.
Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads.
Start: Fall 2025 or later.
Details: jessica.sommerville@utoronto.ca
RTs appreciated 💫

What? Some good news on a Friday?

Parent Fellowship Notices of Funding Opportunities are up!

F30, F31, F32, F33

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...