Aleeca Bell

Dr. Aleeca Bell's program of research, developed from her 27 years as a Certified Nurse Midwife, focuses on women and infant perinatal outcomes, and the underlying oxytocin system. Her predoc and postdoc funding investigated epidural anesthesia and synthetic oxytocin relating to cortisol and immediate newborn behaviors. Subsequent private foundation and NIH KL2 funding added to an established, longitudinal, British dataset revealing: a genetic-epigenetic susceptibility in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) to postpartum depression; and a positive birth experience supports maternal mental health and caregiving. Pilot work led to an NIH-funded R01 award (2020-2025) conducted as PI at UA. By targeting women with a history of childhood adversity (expecting their first child), the RCT determined 1) the efficacy of Massage+, a behavioral infant massage, on improving the quality of mother-infant synchrony; and 2) 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 including data on infant oxytocin, and maternal OXTR DNA methylation, gene expression, and genotype, and a potential oxytocin biomarker. This perinatal dataset with multiple birth and psycho-social measures is available to students.