Dr. Aleeca Bell, PhD, CNM, FACNM, is an Associate Professor in the Advanced Nursing Practice and Science Division of the College of Nursing at the University of Arizona. Dr. Bell has sustained a funded program of research for 16 years on women and infant perinatal outcomes, and underlying biomarkers from the oxytocin system. From her clinical experience as a Certified Nurse Midwife, she worked to support women’s emotional and physical transition from pregnancy to motherhood. After ten years in practice as a Certified Nurse Midwife, she earned a PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 2009. She continued at UIC’s College of Nursing as a post-doctoral Fellow, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor through 2020. Dr. Bell then relocated to the University of Arizona in 2020 where she created clinical partnerships at Tucson’s leading maternity care providers. Her initial funding was from an NIH F31 NRSA and the Irving Harris Foundation to investigate the influence of maternal epidural anesthesia and synthetic oxytocin on cortisol and newborn behaviors within the first hour after birth. Combining an NIH KL2 Scholar Award with a Fetzer Institute foundation grant, she partnered with leading international experts in oxytocin, epigenetics, attachment behavior, and epidemiology to conduct several studies utilizing Britain’s respected Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children database. Through these studies, Dr. Bell’s findings revealed A) a genetic-epigenetic susceptibility to postpartum depression (specifically via an interaction between methylation at oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) loci and an OXTR polymorphism); and B) that a positive birth experience supports the mother’s mental health and caregiving behavior. Funded pilot work led to an NIH-funded R01 award (2020-2024) conducted as PI at the University of Arizona, affectionately known as the “Mothers & Babies Project.” By targeting at-risk women with a history of childhood adversity expecting their first child, the RCT’s primary aim was to determine the efficacy of Massage+, a behavioral infant massage intervention, on improving the quality of mother-infant interaction (known as synchrony). The RCT’s secondary aim was to determine the role of the oxytocin system underlying the efficacy of Massage+ and mother-infant synchrony, respectively. A unique contribution to the literature will be characteristics of the oxytocin system across pregnancy and postpartum at four-time points and include data on infant oxytocin, maternal neurophysin 1 (an oxytocin carrier molecule), OXTR DNA methylation, OXTR gene expression and an OXTR polymorphism. In summary, funding sources to study mother-infant perinatal outcomes and the underlying oxytocin system have included a NIH F32, NIH KL2, NIH R01, university seed grants, and grants from private foundations including the Fetzer Institute and Irving Harris Foundation. Importantly, Dr. Bell collaborates with leading scientists in anthropology, oxytocin and social behavior, genetics/epigenetics, nursing, and neurobehavioral psychology.