Christina Veziris is a doctoral student in the joint clinical psychology program at San Diego State University and UC San Diego, and she is supported by the San Diego ARCS Chapter.

Veziris’s research focuses on prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and the disruptions it causes in development.

“My research has two parts. The first part is improving diagnostic measures for individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure,” Veziris said. “By doing so, this will validate diagnoses and ensure increased and earlier access to care for these individuals.”

She has worked on validating a diagnosis called neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure (ND-PAE).

“People can be diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASD, which is an umbrella term,” Veziris said. “There are multiple diagnoses under that term. However, they are all medical diagnoses. Clinical psychologists can’t diagnose people with those.”

ND-PAE is the first psychiatric diagnosis for these individuals, and Veziris’s research will hopefully allow this diagnosis to be widely accepted.

“It’s classified as being ‘under further study’ right now, so it’s not widely available for use,” Veziris said. “I want to further validate it and make sure that it accurately captures symptoms of prenatal alcohol exposure. Giving validity to this diagnosis would allow people to get diagnosed and treated earlier.”

She is also working to clearly differentiate prenatal alcohol exposure from ADHD, since individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure often exhibit similar symptoms to individuals with ADHD.

The second component of research is targeting the lifelong outcomes of individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure.

“Individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure have an increased risk of experiencing post-natal adversity or traumatic events in their childhood,” Veziris said. “My goal is to study the cognitive and behavioral difficulties associated with that, as well as lifelong outcomes that can occur, such as involvement with the justice system.”

Other studies in Australia and Canada have looked at the relationship between PAE and the juvenile justice system and adults in the system. This link has not been studied in the United States.

Her ultimate goal is to aid in allowing clinical psychologists to be able to diagnose the condition so that individuals get earlier access to treatment.

“I’m really grateful for the support from ARCS, because it has lifted a huge weight off my shoulders,” Veziris said. “It gives me funding to do my research and to be creative with it. I am able to help answer some important questions that might not be researched otherwise.”