Research/Scholarship Interests

Graf’s clinical background in neonatal and pediatric nursing, combined with interdisciplinary research training, informs her scholarship at the intersection of early life stress, biological adaptation and child health equity. Her research focuses on understanding how multilevel stressors experienced during the prenatal and early postnatal periods influence the gut microbiome, neurodevelopment and risk for childhood obesity. She is especially interested in the biological and behavioral mechanisms that link early adversity to later health outcomes, including dysregulated eating behaviors and growth trajectories.

Her current work leverages secondary analysis of longitudinal cohort data and incorporates biomarkers of stress (e.g., hair cortisol concentration), microbiome sequencing and geospatial methods to explore the role of social and environmental context in shaping child health and development. She is also building toward future research that integrates prospective data collection using wearable devices, microbiome sampling and digital health tools to assess the impact of stress and the caregiving environment on maternal-child health outcomes.