Rachel Tomlinson, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
School of Medicine
I study executive functioning (EF) as a stress-sensitive, two-generation target for improving mental health in families. I am affiliated with the Child Trauma Research Program and supported by an NIA-funded T32 in translational epidemiology. My work bridges developmental neuroscience, computational modeling, and intervention science to clarify how early-life adversity shapes EF in both children and caregivers.
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My long-term goal is to develop translational interventions that strengthen EF in parents and children, helping to disrupt intergenerational cycles of stress by targeting the cognitive systems that support regulation, flexibility, and resilience.
Education & Training
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- Clinical Psychology Training Program UCSF 04/2024
- PhD Clinical Psychology University of Michigan 08/2023
- M.S. Psychology University of Michigan 08/2018
- B.S. Psychology, Biology Duke University 05/2014
- Translational Epidemiology (TE-TRAC) T32 UCSF
Interests
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- computational
- parent-child relationship
- gnen-environment interaction
- executive functioning
Grants and Projects
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- Precision in Childhood Executive Functioning Measurement: Advancing Efficiency of Evidence Accumulation (EEA) for Developmental Insights, NIH Office of the Director, Opportunities and Innovation Fund, ECHO, 2025-2027
- Exploring How Perinatal Interventions Influence Executive Functioning, UCSF Nancy Adler Seed Grant, 2024-2026
- , NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, 2017-2022
Publications (16)
Top publication keywords:
Avoidance LearningSymbolismJudgmentAntisocial Personality DisorderPsychology, ChildAcademic PerformanceExecutive FunctionResidence CharacteristicsPovertyConduct DisorderNeuropsychological TestsPsychomotor PerformanceGamblingPrefrontal CortexRegistries
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Efficiency of evidence accumulation as a formal model-based measure of task-general executive functioning in adolescents.
Journal of psychopathology and clinical science 2025 Tomlinson RC, Weigard AS, Sripada C, Jonides J, Klump KL, Burt SA, Hyde LW -
Mental Health in Toddlerhood: The Dynamic Balance of Anxiety, Autonomy, and Attachment
WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Biopsychosocial Factors 2024 Lieberman, AF Tomlinson, RC -
Pilot Study of Self-Distancing Augmentation to Exposure Therapy for Youth Anxiety.
Child psychiatry and human development 2023 Bilek EL, Meyer AE, Tomlinson R, Chen C -
Parents, neighborhoods, and the developing brain
Child Development Perspectives 2022 Hyde, LW Gard, AM Tomlinson, RC Suarez, GL Westerman, HB -
The role of parenting in the intergenerational transmission of executive functioning: A genetically informed approach.
Development and psychopathology 2022 Tomlinson RC, Hyde LW, Weigard AS, Klump KL, Burt SA
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Illuminating Associations between Parenting and Deleterious Neighborhood Characteristics via an Exhaustive Modeling Approach.
Journal of marriage and the family 2022 Burt SA, Thaler D, Shewark EA, Pearson AM, Anaya C, Tomlinson RC, Neiderhiser JM, Klump KL, Lonstein JS -
Parenting moderates the etiology of callous-unemotional traits in middle childhood.
Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines 2021 Tomlinson RC, Hyde LW, Dotterer HL, Klump KL, Burt SA -
Neurocognitive abilities associated with antisocial behavior with and without callous-unemotional traits in a community sample.
Neuropsychology 2021 Dotterer HL, Tomlinson RC, Burt SA, Weigard AS, Klump KL, Hyde LW -
Exposure-Focused CBT Outperforms Relaxation-Based Control in an RCT of Treatment for Child and Adolescent Anxiety.
Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 2021 Bilek E, Tomlinson RC, Whiteman AS, Johnson TD, Benedict C, Phan KL, Monk CS, Fitzgerald KD -
Treating Social Anxiety in an Era of Social Distancing: Adapting Exposure Therapy for Youth During COVID-19.
Cognitive and behavioral practice 2021 Khan AN, Bilek E, Tomlinson RC, Becker-Haimes EM -
An ecological approach to understanding the developing brain: Examples linking poverty, parenting, neighborhoods, and the brain.
The American psychologist 2020 Hyde LW, Gard AM, Tomlinson RC, Burt SA, Mitchell C, Monk CS -
Number sense biases children's area judgments.
Cognition 2020 Tomlinson RC, DeWind NK, Brannon EM -
Neighborhood poverty predicts altered neural and behavioral response inhibition.
NeuroImage 2020 Tomlinson RC, Burt SA, Waller R, Jonides J, Miller AL, Gearhardt AN, Peltier SJ, Klump KL, Lumeng JC, Hyde LW -
The Acuity and Manipulability of the ANS Have Separable Influences on Preschoolers' Symbolic Math Achievement.
Frontiers in psychology 2018 Starr A, Tomlinson RC, Brannon EM -
Five-year-olds do not show ambiguity aversion in a risk and ambiguity task with physical objects.
Journal of experimental child psychology 2017 Li R, Roberts RC, Huettel SA, Brannon EM -
Non-symbolic approximate arithmetic training improves math performance in preschoolers.
Journal of experimental child psychology 2016 Park J, Bermudez V, Roberts RC, Brannon EM