The MAMAS and SEED Studies: Mindfulness Training during Pregnancy Associated with Two-Generation Impacts

Presented by

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, and Nicole Bush, PhD

Drs. Vieten and Bush will discuss the role of stress during pregnancy on women and their offspring and share results from the MAMAS study - an NIH-funded intervention development project. They will share results associated with participation in a mindful eating and stress-reduction intervention on short- and long-term improvements on maternal health, as well as biological and behavioral benefits for offspring. Implications for practice and policy will be discussed.

Cassandra Vieten, PhD, is Acting Director of the Center for Mindfulness and Associate Research Scientist/Director of Research at the Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination at the University of California, San Diego. She is also a Senior Advisor of the John W. Brick Mental Health Foundation, and Senior Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, where she served as President from 2013-2019. Her research focuses on mindfuness-based interventions, spirituality and mental health, imagination, psychedelics, and development of media technologies to inspire awe. She is currently working on a project to bring integrative wellness programs to law enforcement personnel throughout California. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and completed her research training in behavioral genetics at UC San Francisco. She has authored three books, published numerous articles in scientific journals, and is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and workshop leader.

Nicole Bush, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Developmental and Behavioral Health, appointed in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, and Division Chief of the Division of Developmental Medicine at UCSF. A licensed clinical psychologist with training in biology, medicine, and epidemiology, Dr. Bush leverages her cross-field training and insights from community engagement to innovatively bridge disciplines. She is an international leader with research expertise in the social determinants of child and family health and wellbeing. Dr. Bush leads or co-leads a broad range of epidemiological and clinical intervention longitudinal cohort studies focused on maternal-child health, etiology and mechanisms for social and chemical environment effects on pediatric disease, and identifying family- and policy-level solutions to address health disparities across the life course. Dr. Bush has received a range of awards, including the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Fellowship, the UCSF Chancellor’s Diversity Award for the Advancement of Women, and a Distinguished Alumni award. Dr. Bush and her health equity work have been highlighted by numerous media outlets, as well as government and policy leaders.

Register here: https://ucsf.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYsd-Gurj8uH9WWvKaIH-DhMWkIwdbA0cEc 

For information on Research Seminars at the Osher Center for Integrative Health, visit our website: https://osher.ucsf.edu/research/research-seminars