Effy Zhiyuan Yu, PhD, RN

Effy Zhiyuan Yu, PhD, RN is an Assistant Professor at Penn Nursing. Her research focuses on understanding and interrupting the intergenerational transmission of adversities and promoting resilience, particularly among families of young children. Specifically, she studies adverse and positive childhood experiences, young children’s behavioral and biological (e.g., inflammation) outcomes, and parenting across diverse communities. Supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, her current work focuses on elucidating how mothers’ childhood experiences are associated with maternal sensitivity and infants and toddlers’ immune regulation as indicated by both cellular and transcriptomic immune biomarkers.