CDU Postdoctoral Fellow Featured in Endocrine News Podcast
Dr. Alexandra Donovan, a postdoctoral fellow at CDU was featured in a recent episode of the Endocrine News Podcast, where she engaged in an informative discussion with the host, Aaron Lohr, about early life stress and puberty and how both factors may influence substance use initiation in the youth population.
The Endocrine News Podcast offers listeners the latest research and clinical advances from experts in the field.
Dr. Donovan’s research around the topic has garnered media attention following her participation in ENDO 2024 where she presented her abstract titled, “Early Life Stress and Pubertal Predictors of Youth Substance Use Initiation: Does Sex Moderate the Relationship Between Early Life Stress, Puberty, and Substance Use Initiation?”
Dr. Donovan’s research examines the impact of Early Life Stress (ELS) on adolescent substance use, a common precursor to adult Substance Use Disorders, and tests for sex differences in the relationship between ELS and risk of first use of alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana.
Her findings highlight sex differences in the association of ELS Environmental and Trauma scores with the risk of first substance use, while illustrating the consistency of the association of ELS Family scores with risk.
Listen to the full episode here.