Email

palcic@bcm.edu

Positions

Associate Professor

Pediatrics-Nutrition
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Research Member

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Houston, Texas United States

Member

Houston-Nutrition Obesity Research Center
Houston, Texas United States

Addresses

Children's Nutrition Research Center (Office)

1100 Bates
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-7069
palcic@bcm.edu

Education

BA from Tulane University

05/2003 - New Orleans, Louisiana United States

Psychology

MA from Louisiana State University

08/2005 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana United States

Clinical Psychology

PhD from Louisiana State University

08/2009 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana United States

Clinical Psychology

Internship at Baylor College of Medicine

06/2008 - Houston, Texas United States

Pediatric Psychology

Postdoctoral Fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine

06/2009 - Houston, Texas United States

Pediatric Psychology

Honors & Awards

Young Investigator Award

Given to the most impactful young investigators of 2019 in recognition of her contributions to both advancing science and promoting the department’s vision to protect the health of children.

Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine (11/2019)

Fellow of the Society of Behavioral Medicine

12/2023

Professional Interests

• Prevention and Treatment of Childhood Obesity
• Summer Weight Gain
• Sleep
• Circadian and Circannual rhythms
• Behavioral Interventions
• Evening Screen Media Use

Professional Statement

My previous research has demonstrated that children increase their weight status (standardized BMI) at a faster rate during the summer compared to the school year, contributing to increases in the rates of overweight and obesity among elementary school-age children. I am particularly interested in the role of children's sleep and circadian and circannual rhythms (i.e., daily and annual biological rhythms) in the seasonal variation of children's growth and their contribution to the development of obesity in children. My research has demonstrated that during summer children have a later sleep midpoint which is associated with greater increases in BMI during summer, though the link between later sleep timing and increases in BMI is unclear. As a result, my research has begun to examine factors that may be associated with later sleep and circadian timing and increases in adiposity, such as screen media use. I also have an interest in improving our assessments of children's sleep and screen media use using passive objective assessment methods.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Zeraattalab-Motlagh S, Syau E, Dadabhoy H, Hardin AL, Musaad SMA, Park RJ, Baranowski T, Thompson D, Moreno JP "Impact of child summertime obesity interventions on body mass index and weight-related behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis." Obes Rev. 2025 May;26(5):e13883. Pubmed PMID: 39701061
• Vadathya AK, Garza T, Alam U, Ho A, Musaad SMA, Beltran A, Moreno JP, Baranowski T, Haidar N, Hughes SO, Mendoza JA, Veeraraghavan A, Young J, Sano A, O'Connor TM "Validation studies of the FLASH-TV system to passively measure children's TV viewing." Sci Rep. 2024 Nov;14(1):29805. Pubmed PMID: 39616199
• Garg M, Guo H, Maclam E, Zhanov E, Samudrala S, Pavlov A, Rahman MS, Namkoong M, Moreno JP, Tian L "Molecularly imprinted wearable sensor with paper microfluidics for real-time sweat biomarker analysis." ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 Sep;16(35):46113-46122. Pubmed PMID: 39178237
• Weaver RG, White JW 3rd, Finnegan O, Armstrong B, Beets MW, Adams EL, Burkart S, Dugger R, Parker H, von Klinggraeff L, Bastyr M, Zhu X, Bandeira AS, Reesor-Oyer L, Pfledderer CD, Moreno JP "Understanding accelerated summer body mass index gain by tracking changes in children’s height, weight, and body mass index throughout the year." Child Obes. 2024 Apr;20(3):155-168. Pubmed PMID: 37083520

Memberships

Society of Behavioral Medicine

Sleep Research Society

Society for Research on Biological Rhythms

Obesity Society

International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Society of Pediatric Research

Funding

Goodnight Screen Media Study: Experimental effects of children’s evening media use on circadian phase, sleep, and executive functioning - #P01HD091396

(09/09/2022 - 09/08/2026) Grant funding from NICHD

The goal of this study is to systematically test the timing of tablet use relative to bedtime on the sleep, circadian phase, and executive functioning of 4-year-olds.

Sync Duo Study: Feasibility of a mobile application for sleep and circadian rhythms in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and their caregivers - #R41HL164294

(03/01/2023 - 02/29/2024) Grant funding from NHLBI

This work proposes to leverage consumer wearable technology to carry out real-time sleep and circadian analysis for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and to prescribe lighting and behavioral recommendations to help reduce fatigue in these patients and their caregivers.

Sleep, Circadian Rhythms, and Electronics in the Evening Study (Screens Study): Experimental Effects of Light and Content from Evening Screen Media Use on Children's Sleep, Executive Functioning, and Emotion Regulation - #R01HD112349

(09/01/2023 - 08/31/2028) Grant funding from NICHD

This study will systematically disentangle the impact of light exposure from screens from the impact of arousing media content on children’s sleep regulation as well as next-day emotion regulation and executive functioning. Using innovations in the objective assessment of tablet use, we will control for differences in children’s objectively assessed tablet use history. Our findings will have implications that will inform screen media use guidelines for school-age children.

Development of a novel noninvasive wearable sensor to assess circadian rhythmicity in children and adults

(01/01/2024 - 12/31/2024) Grant funding from PATHS-UP Seed Fund Award (NSF)

We propose to develop and validate a non-invasive, multimodal wearable microfluidic sweat sensor for multiplexed quantification of melatonin and cortisol to assess circadian rhythmicity in children and adults by providing continuous monitoring of melatonin and cortisol, two important biomarkers of circadian phase.