Dr. Treble-Barna is a tenure-stream associate professor, pediatric neuropsychologist, and neuroscientist. Her clinical research program aims to account for unexplained heterogeneity in outcomes following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), with the long-term goal of moving the field towards precision medicine to improve individual prognostication, predict response to rehabilitation, and identify novel targets for treatment development.
Dr. Treble-Barna is Principal Investigator of the Epigenetic Effects on pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury (EETR) study, which has been enrolling since 2017 and consistently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 2019 (K01HD097030; R01NS135492). The aims of the project are to examine DNA methylation (a major epigenetic regular of gene expression) in association with acute TBI occurrence, long-term neurobehavioral outcomes, and psychosocial adversity.
The Treble-Barna Lab for Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Research is located at The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Service
Dr. Treble-Barna is the Director of the Mothers Leading Science (MLS) program offered through the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Clinical and Research Education (ICRE). MLS is a competitive, year-long, leadership development program for research-intensive faculty in the health sciences who identify as mothers of school age and/or young children. The purpose of the program is to foster professional and personal growth, provide peer coaching, integrate the dual roles of scientist and mother, develop future institutional leaders, and build a network of peers for ongoing career-long support. Dr. Treble-Barna pursued certification as a professional executive coach in support of her work with MLS. She also serves on the Provost’s Advisory Committee for Women’s Concerns and the Pitt Scientist Wellbeing Steering Group.
- BSc, Psychology, Magna Cum Laude, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, 2008
- MA, Clinical Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2010
- PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 2014
- Clinical Internship, Nationwide Children's Hospital, 2014
- Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Clinical Neuropsychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, 2016
Education & Training
Dr. Treble-Barna's publications are indexed in PubMed
Pediatric traumatic brain injury, Rehabilitation service use, Epigenetics, Biomarkers, Social determinants of health, Clinical neuropsychology
- NIH R01NS135492, Methylomics of pediatric traumatic brain injury and neurobehavioral recovery (PI, 40% effort), 2024-2029
- NIH R03HD101746, Development and initial validation of a caregiver-report measure of rehabilitation utilization (MPI, 15% effort), 2021-2023.
- NIH K01HD097030, Epigenetic influences on neurobehavioral recovery following pediatric traumatic brain injury (PI, 75% effort), 2019-2024.