Professor Wan-Ling Tseng, School of Medicine
A Community of
Risk-takers
Written by Valentina Zhang
Edited by Jenny Jiyoung Bae
The value of the undergraduate experience extends far beyond the classroom. That is what Professor Wan-Ling Tseng learned firsthand during her time in college as a camp counselor for students with siblings who have medical conditions or mental health disorders. During this experience, she observed how children who may seem healthy from the outside can feel neglected and eventually develop emotional and behavioral problems. After building close relationships with them, she realized she wanted to study developmental psychology. “That is what inspired me to pursue a career in working with kids,” Professor Tseng said.
After that, she worked as a research assistant at a children’s mental health hospital, where she became involved in clinical trials, drug trials, and psychotherapy. She then received a Ph.D. in child psychology and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health, where she researched mood dysregulation in emotional development. For the past five years, she has worked as an assistant professor at the Yale Child Study Center. Within the Child Study Center, Professor Tseng conducts foundational research on negative emotional patterns, such as irritability, anger, and aggression, in the context of brain development. She always keeps in mind how her research can be translated into clinical interventions and applied to support families.
Professor Tseng has found that her role as a professor working with students has been just as rewarding. She feels privileged to work amongst bright and ambitious Yale students. “They often bring in very fresh perspectives and something that I have not thought of before,” she said. “They are often also very motivated and not afraid to take risks, which help me push my research into new horizons and territories. I love it.”
Taking risks has certainly been a large part of Professor Tseng’s work. This year, she was recognized by the National Institutes of Health’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program for her visionary behavioral research project. Over the next five years, her research will focus on tracking a group of children with high irritability to examine how their brains develop over time, how their symptoms change, and how parent-child interactions affect these physiological factors. Her goal is to use this long-term data to help researchers predict which factors influence the trajectory of chronic irritability. She remarked on her hopes for her research outcomes: “If we find certain brain mechanisms are the most predictive features of a child’s irritability longitudinal trajectory, then maybe intervention can target the brain mechanisms and hopefully derail the trajectory because the chronic irritability trajectory is a strong predictor of later suicidality and depression.”
Professor Tseng especially expressed her gratitude for the opportunities for collaboration at Yale. Her group has collaborated with many different departments in the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, and the Department of Psychology. With such interdisciplinary research, Professor Tseng has also teamed up with clinical researchers to study the implications of her neuroimaging studies. In addition, she incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to handle high-dimensional data and decipher large datasets on children’s psychology.
Prioritizing diversity in her department and creating an accepting environment for individuals from all backgrounds are of the utmost importance to Professor Tseng. As part of the LGBTQ+ community, she actively participates in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Action Group. She also highly values different approaches and novel perspectives, which can enrich her research. Furthermore, she remarked that she is very conscientious of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who may lack research experience or access to mentorship. She has found great fulfillment in seeking out, educating, and mentoring these students.
When asked what she would say to an undergraduate student looking to get into research, Professor Tseng offered a simple yet impactful piece of advice. “Just reach out. All of the faculty love hearing from students, and they love working with students. Just reach out and do not be afraid to explore.”