Dr. Cheryl Walker has two primary research interests. She leads a team that is developing innovative non-hormonal contraceptive methods. She also examines mechanisms that translate exposures experienced by women before and during pregnancy into influences that shape the developing brain.

Dr. Walker applies her expertise to study preconception and gestational risks for lifelong health disparities. Her research focuses on developmental programming at the clinical and molecular levels and its impact on health outcomes, both in humans and in the nonhuman primate model. She is an Affiliate Scientist at the California National Primate Research Center and currently serves as PI of an R01 investigating placental mechanisms that underlie the influence of maternal obesity on adverse neurodevelopment. She also serves as PI of an R21 investigating maternal clinical and molecular metabolic mechanisms that may mediate the influence of gestational phthalate exposure on child neurodevelopment.