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Orma Ravindranath

PhD Candidate in Clinical Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Campus
Chapter Member: Central Pennsylvania SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Orma

Ravindranath's research focuses on using neuroimaging techniques to study the role of puberty and hormones in adolescent neurocognitive and emotional development. Overarching themes in Ravindranath's writings include molecular mechanisms, pubertal development, and the intersection of cognitive and emotional development. Ravindranath has provided clinical expertise for Antelope Recovery, a startup dedicated to increasing mental healthcare access for rural adolescents and completed a clinical internship at Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, a community health center focused on increasing healthcare access for Native Hawaiians and other underserved groups on the island of O'ahu.

Contributions

What Mental Health Professionals Need to Know to Protect Their Patients and Themselves in the Post-Dobbs Era

  • Christine C. Call
  • Irene Tung
  • Stefanie L. Sequeira
  • Orma Ravindranath
  • Cassandra Boness
  • Debora Bell

Publications

"Adolescent Neurocognitive Development and Decision-Making Abilities Regarding Gender-Affirming Care" (with Maria I. Perica, Ashley C. Parr, Amar Ojha, Shane D. McKeon, Gerald Montano, Naomi Ullendorff, Beatriz Luna, and E. Kale Edmiston). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 67 (2024).

Reviews existing neurodevelopmental research as it applies to adolescents’ ability to make decisions regarding gender-affirming care. Research shows that while adolescence is a time of peak risk-taking behavior and impulsivity, neurocognitive systems supporting adult-level decisions are available given deliberative processes that minimize the influence of short-term rewards.

"Pubertal Development Underlies Optimization of Inhibitory Control Through Specialization of Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex" (with Finnegan J. Calabro, William Foran, and Beatriz Luna). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 58 (2022).

Explores how inhibitory control develops from adolescence into young adulthood, focusing on the roles of chronological age and pubertal maturation. Results suggest that while age-related brain maturation supports the development of inhibitory control, puberty significantly influences the effectiveness of cognitive control responses.

"Hippocampal-Prefrontal Connectivity Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic Predicts Stress Reactivity" (with Maria I. Perica, Orma Ravindranath, Finnegan J. Calabro, William Foran, and Beatriz Luna). Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science 1, no. 4 (2021): 283-290.

Investigates how brain connectivity affects adolescents' stress responses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicate that greater stress reactivity to the COVID-19 pandemic in adults as compared to adolescents may be driven by maturation of brain connectivity which integrates stress response and emotional memory processing.

"Influences of Affective Context on Amygdala Functional Connectivity During Cognitive Control From Adolescence Through Adulthood" (with Sarah J. Ordaz, Aarthi Padmanabhan, William Foran, Maria Jalbrzikowski, Finnegan J. Calabro, and Beatriz Luna). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience 45 (2020).

Investigates how the brain processes emotions and manages cognitive control during adolescence compared to adulthood. Results suggest that cognitive control in emotional states improves and that adolescent cognitive control may be more affected by emotional states due to difficulty differentiating between different emotional states.