Dr. Maria Hernandez-Reif
Dr. Maria Hernandez-Reif is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) and the director of the Pediatric Development Research (PDR) lab in the College of Human Environmental Sciences (CHES) at The University of Alabama (UA). As a researcher and developmental psychologist, she has studied varying age groups across the life span, in part to attain a basic understanding of human development and in other part, to examine intervention effects. During her graduate training under Dr. Lorraine Bahrick (Florida International University, Miami, FL), she developed methodological expertise in assessing how infants perceive and communicate knowledge via their senses. During her postdoctoral studies under Dr. Tiffany Field (University of Miami, Miami, FL), Dr. Hernandez-Reif developed additional expertise with vulnerable infant populations, such as preterm and low birthweight infants, including studying their growth, development, and sleep patterns. Later, having received research appointments in Pediatrics at the University of Miami, she participated in collaborative funded research to examine interventions for preterm infants and children with special needs. Dr. Hernandez-Reif developed expertise in massage therapy research and complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) serving as the Co-Director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami for almost a decade. During that period, she collaborated with Dr. Field (Director) to examine CIM (i.e., massage therapy, yoga, tai chi) for promoting health and well-being, reducing pain and stress, and enhancing functioning for children and adults with varying diagnoses and health issues, including preterm birth, immunological conditions (HIV, breast cancer), pain conditions, and behavioral and mental health concerns.
At the University of Alabama, in her current position, Dr. Hernandez-Reif has conducted research on maternal depression, infant and child word-object learning, and more recently early childhood education and school readiness. Her lab is conducting a longitudinal study examining indicators in early infancy that predict to school readiness at 5-years of age, including examining cortisol stress hormone levels changes across early childhood. In 2018 she completed a program evaluation of Pre-K in a public city school system examining teacher perception of Pre-K effectiveness. Currently, she is a founding member of a new collaborative, Partners for Alabama Families and Communities (PAFC), examining the potential for CIM to enhance maternal-child health outcomes in West Alabama, an area with very low resources and among the worst outcomes in the U.S. Dr. Maria Hernandez-Reif enjoys mentoring and collaborating with individuals interested in studying human development issues across the lifespan, but particularly those that focus on mothers and young children.