Sandy L. Gonzalez, PhD

I earned my PhD in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Science from Florida International University in 2019 as an NIH/NIGMS RISE Graduate Fellow and McKnight Dissertation Year Fellow. From 2019-2021 I was an NIH/NIMH Post-Doctoral Fellow at New York University, and was recognized for my post-doctoral research by both NIH and NSF. I am currently a Senior Research Associate for Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida.

Broadly, my research focuses on developmental cascades: how gains and changes in physical, social, and cognitive development, as well as environmental context, interact and influence health outcomes in pediatric populations. My specific areas of expertise include the development and co-action of motor skills and language in children from 0 to 5 years old, language development in English-Spanish Dual Language Learning (DLL) children, and psychometric assessment creation and validation. My ultimate goals are to (1) leverage assessment of early motor abilities as a way to understand children's physically active role/engagement in their own language development, and (2) extend knowledge gained through research in child development towards the implementation of accessible and equitable health outcomes public outreach programs and interventions, particularly for children and families from multilingual backgrounds.