Alina Rodriguez received a PhD in psychology from Uppsala University, Sweden.  Professor Rodriguez specializes on causal pathways of complex disorders.  She launched and has been a part of large-scale pregnancy-offspring cohort studies in the Nordic countries with follow-up times spanning as much as 30 years.  This work aims to examine maternal lifestyle characteristics during pregnancy including stress/depression and health-related behaviors for the prediction of neurodevelopmental problems in the child.  Further she studies the maternal-child interaction in relation to current and later child mental health.  Prof Rodriguez works in identifying markers of adolescent problems and works in identifying causal pathways between overweight and obesity in childhood/adolescence and mental health problems and scholastic performance.  She works across disciplines, in large-scale research projects, and international collaborations.