San Diego October 27, 2009 - Dr. Patricia East, a leading expert on teenage childbearing impact, was awarded the  San Diego Business Journal the Women Who Mean Business Award for 2009.

As a developmental psychologist in the Division of Child Development and Community Health, Dr. East has been studying the effects of teenage childbearing on families and siblings over the last 20 years.  Her research has shown that girls whose older sister had a teenage birth, were 5 times as likely to have a teenage pregnancy as girls with no sibling history of teenage births. 

Recently featured in The Wall Street Journal and U.S. News and World Reports, Dr. East’s work has impacted research, education, and awareness both locally and nationally. She has published imore than 50 peer-reviewed articles on adolescent pregnancy and has been awarded over 12 grants and contracts to study sisters’ pregnancy risk.  Her research on the effects of adolescent childbearing helped launch the California Adolescent Sibling Pregnancy Prevention Program, a statewide program that served approximately 5,000 youth and families affected by teenage parenting. 

Dr. East is currently researching the increased risk of early pregnancy among the sisters of pregnant and parenting teens. Other research interests include Latino adolescents’ sibling relationships, educational aspirations, and family caregiving.

“Personally, this award means a great deal to me,” Dr. Tricia East shares. “It has inspired me to continue my commitment to understanding and preventing the younger sisters of pregnant and parenting teens from also becoming pregnant.”

Media Contact: Shivani Singh, Sr. Writer, Pediatrics, UC San Diego  s1singh@ucsd.edu  

Scientific Contact: Dr. Patricia East, Research Scientist, Division of Child Development and Community Health, Pediatrics, UC San Diego   peast@ucsd.edu