Research Projects

I am interested in understanding how societal inequalities can "get under the skin" and how stress from those experiences relates to pregnancy physiology. 

Ample work has shown a relationship between psychological distress and adverse birth outcomes. I seek to understand how this happens and ways to interrupt these cycles. 

My research has added to this work by exploring how psychological distress relates to immunological and inflammatory markers of pregnancy (Wiley et al. 2024), as well as evaluating how maternal psychology can be influenced by sociopolitical stressors (Wiley et al., 2023) and neighborhood perceptions (Chua and Knorr* et al., 2023). 

By utilizing novel measures of placental material circulating in maternal blood during pregnancy, I work towards building a proximate (mechanistic) explanation for these epidemiological patterns (Knorr et al., in prep). 

*sharing first authorship

Humans are unique in that we require much additional help during pregnancy and after birth. Evolutionary theory suggests that many individuals can and do help the mother after birth. 

My work supports the impact of maternal grandmothers as critical deliverers of support during pregnancy. I find that communication and emotional support from maternal grandmothers moderate the psychological distress experienced by pregnant women (Knorr and Fox (2024). Positive relationship factors with maternal grandmothers during pregnancy are associated with reduced psychological distress and cortisol (Knorr and Fox (2023); Fox et al., 2023), extending "allomother" research to the vulnerable period of pregnancy. 

My current postdoc position (started August 2024) considers the metabolic limits of human pregnancy. We will evaluate the physiological trade-offs that occur within a limited energy budget and how these trade-offs may impact maternal-fetal health.