Tara Thompson-Felix, MD

Tara Thompson-Felix received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ and her MD from Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Prior to medical school, she worked as a postgraduate research associate in the Yale Child Study Center focusing on investigating the genetic basis of developmental language and behavioral disorders. After earning her M.D., she trained in adult psychiatry at the Lewis Katz Temple University medical school. At Temple, she served as a chief resident and completed the child and research track. Her research involved collaborations with the Temple OB/GYN and neuroscience department to investigate the epigenetic landscape of fetal neural exosomes associated with in utero exposure to opiates. Based on this work, Dr. Thompson-Felix was selected as an APA research colloquium awardee in 2018. Dr. Thompson-Felix is also a National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative (NNCI) scholar and continues to work on developing new teaching materials, including a “this stuff is really cool” talk on exosomes and clinical commentary published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry (2019). She was awarded the 2020 George Ginsberg Fellowship award from the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training (AADPRT), acknowledging her commitment to teaching and education. Dr. Thompson-Felix is interested in improving child development starting from the in-utero experience and maternal health. At this time, she is pursuing her PhD in the Yale Investigative Medicine Program through the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Her current project focuses on understanding the impact of maternal obesity on child neurodevelopment through the characterization of placenta and fetal neuron derived extracellular vesicles. This work is supported by various awards including the NRSA T32 training program, NIH Loan Repayment Program, and 2022 YCSC trainee pilot award. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing with her kids, spending time with family and cooking cultural dishes.