Delia Vazquez is a pediatric endocrinologist and neuroendocrine scientist who studies the development of the classical endocrine system which responds to stress, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. She has two primary interests:1) the syndrome of psychosocial dwarfism (PSD), a condition in which growth failure is seen due to psychosocial stressors,and 2)   the repercussion of perinatal stress in emotional stress reactivity.

As part of her interest on psychosocial stressors and behavioral alterations, Vazquez has begun to study key brain areas which are part of two systems:   the CRH brain system and   the serotonin system in normally developing rats and rats subjected to maternal deprivation. At the clinical level, Vazquez studies children with PSD.   She also studies women who are at risk for depression and their infants once they are born. Her studies suggest that these PSD children have a hyperactive HPA axis and an under active adrenal. Infants born to women at risk for depression have subtle delays in their neurological development and alterations in their HPA axis function.   To tie in the animal experiments with her interest on PSD, she has characterized animal models of chronic stress in pre-weanling and weanling rats which results in significant growth retardation and behaviors consistent with anxiety. The elucidation of the neurobiology of these models is her next goal.

Dr. Vazquez was the recipient of the 2004 Kenneth J. Povish Service Award.