Bahar is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Neuroscience Graduate Program who is interested in the effects of parenting and maternal mental illness on children’s long-term mental health. Her PhD thesis involves two studies that examine the effects on offspring of maternal cognitive behavioural therapy for postpartum depression (PPD) delivered by: a) Public Health Nurses, and b) Women who have themselves previously recovered from PPD (lay peers). The overarching goal of these studies is to determine whether treating women with psychotherapy affect mother-infant relationships and infant emotion regulation (early predictors of later psychopathology risk). Change in infant emotion regulation is assessed using a range of neurophysiological measures (EEG, ECG, salivary cortisol, epigenetic markers). She hopes to develop the skills required to conduct meaningful research with strong potential for translation that can be used to improve the health and development of women and their children.