BRAVA · Brain Predictors of Resilience to Adversity in Adolescence

Adversity in youth poses a serious threat to long-term health and well-being, causing immense suffering and overwhelming healthcare systems. Two major sources of adversity in youth are adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse or neglect, and chronic health conditions, such as chronic pain (CP). ACEs double the risk of psychiatric disorders, while CP in youth has severe long-term consequences, affecting all aspects of life and often persisting into adulthood. However, over 60% of youth exposed to ACEs and 20-40% of youth with CP demonstrate resilience: the capacity to withstand adversity and maintain optimal psychosocial functioning. Despite its protective role, the neurobiological mechanisms that predict and support the development of resilience remain to be elucidated. BRAVA will address this gap using a falsifiable, hypothesis-driven approach that leverages machine learning (ML) and readily available, large samples of adolescents to develop the first brain markers that predict resilience to ACEs and to CP at the individual level. BRAVA will identify and compare the neurobiological mechanisms promoting resilience to ACEs and to CP in adolescents in a developmentally attuned manner. This will be achieved through an interdisciplinary and international collaboration between pioneers in ML applied to large-scale, longitudinal datasets (McGill University, outgoing phase) and in the neurobiology of CP in youth (University of Barcelona, return phase). My expertise in pediatric neuroimaging incorporating developmental and social psychology perspectives, as well as my capacity to foster interdisciplinary and international collaborations, make me the perfect fit to lead this project. The excellent training plan will enhance my ability to conduct high-impact research independently. BRAVA’s synergies are set to transform our understanding of resilience and provide actionable and accessible tools to identify at-risk youth and inform personalized interventions.