Summer Mengelkoch

My career in psychology began at the University of Minnesota studying under Vlad Griskevicius and Jeffry Simpson. While I had originally planned to study Applied Behavior Analysis,  I found myself drawn to and inspired by evolutionary theory and experimental research. 

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After completing my bachelor's degree in Psychology, I went to Texas Christian University to study as a doctoral student under Dr. Sarah E. Hill. I received my PhD in experimental social psychology in 2022. In my time there, I served as the Hill Lab lab manager, worked as a teaching assistant, and mentored a team of brilliant undergraduates. I also received the "Outstanding Graduate Service Award" from the TCU Office of Graduate Studies. Much of my graduate research work investigated how early-life stress predicts inflammation and stress-induced inflammation in adulthood, and how hormonal contraceptive use impacts women's stress responses. We used an evolutionary approach to understand relationships between biology and behavior, focusing on questions related to health. During my time at TCU, I also co-founded and ran EOS BioAnalytics, a bioassay core lab. 

 

I am now a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, where I work in Dr. George Slavich's Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. Currently, I am also serving a visiting postdoctoral scholar appointment in the Department of Genetics within the Stanford School of Medicine at Stanford University, where I work with the Snyder Lab. My current project is funded through the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. Here, we will categorize the life stress experiences of over 700 Californians to better understand impact of both early-life and chronic stress on people's biology, health, and well-being. Then, we will implement personalized interventions designed to help those who are struggling with managing stress improve their health and well-being by targeting the biobehavioral pathway that is the most impacted by stress for them (including diet, physical activity, sleep, social relationships, and negative thought patterns). As a part of this work, I have also helped to launch the California Stress, Trauma, & Resilience (Cal Star) Network, where I serve as the co-chair of the community partnerships workgroup. The Cal Star network promotes evidence-based research, education, and professional training activities in the areas of life stress, trauma, resilience, and health. 

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My current research interests include:

• The behavioral consequences of inflammation 

  • How does inflammation and immune function affect decision-making? ​Impulsivity? Eating behaviors? Depression? Resilience? 

  • Effects of stress-induced inflammation on decision-making and health-related behaviors 

• How does one's early life experiences affect one's health behaviors across the lifespan?

  • Biological embedding of ACEs​

  • How can we measure toxic stress physiology at an individual, diagnostic level? 

• How does social safety buffer individuals from the health harming impacts of early life stress?

  • How should we measure social safety? ​

  • When are we most vulnerable to social threats? 

• What are the mechanisms behind ovulatory shift effects?

• What are the unanticipated behavioral consequences of taking hormonal contraceptives? ​

  • By what mechanism(s) of action does hormonal contragestive use impact women's stress responses? 

  • Why does hormonal contraceptive use lead to depression in some women but improve depression in others?

• Why do women have higher rates of depression compared to men?​