Sarah A. O. Gray, Ph.D.

Dr. Sarah Gray is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Tulane University, where she holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Gray’s research examines the developmental consequences of early life adversity, with a specific focus on intergenerational processes. She takes a multilevel approach, integrating narrative, behavioral, and physiological measurement to understand how risk and resilience is transmitted across generations through behavioral and biological pathways, situated in relational and broader social contexts. Ultimately, she seeks to inform prevention and intervention programs that support caregivers to support young children.

She earned her B.A. in History from Yale University and completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship in early childhood development and education at the Yale Child Study Center. After teaching for several years in her home state of Louisiana, she pursued her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and completed her internship and post-doctoral training in the Early Childhood program at the Yale Child Study Center. She has published broadly on topics related to early-emerging psychopathology, family processes, sex differences, and trauma, and her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Brain & Behavior Foundation, and the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is the recipient of a ZERO TO THREE Leaders for the 21st Century Fellowship and an Early Career Research Contributions Award from the Society for Research in Child Development.

Dr. Gray is not accepting new graduate students this cycle. You can learn more about Dr. Gray's current work and the Tulane Child and Family Lab here: https://cfl.tulane.edu/.  

Selected Publications

Gray, S. A. O., Lipschutz, R., & Scheeringa, M. (2018). Young children’s physiological reactivity during memory recall: Associations with posttraumatic stress and parent physiological synchrony. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 46(4), 871-880.
 
Gray, S. A. O., Jones, C. W., Theall, K. P., Glackin, E., & Drury, S. S. (2017). Thinking across generations: Unique contributions of maternal early life and prenatal stress to infant physiology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 56(11), 922-929.
 
Gray, S. A. O., Theall, K., P., Lipschutz, R., & Drury, S. S. (2017). Sex differences in the contribution of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and trauma to children’s psychopathology. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 39(1), 67-78.
 
Gray, S. A. O., Forbes, D., & Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Carter, A. S. (2015). Caregiver insightfulness and young children’s violence exposure: Testing a relational model of risk and resilience. Attachment and Human Development 17(6), 615-634.
 
Gray, S. A. O. (2015). Widening the Circle of Security: A quasi-experimental evaluation of attachment-based professional development for family child care providers. Infant Mental Health Journal 36(3), 308-319.