Health's Early Roots & Origins

HERO Project

A translational research initiative led by Patricia Pelufo Silveira to understand how early-life adversity and resilience are reflected in young children's biology, behavior, and everyday contexts.

Read the evidence Primary publication

What HERO Studies

The HERO Project examines how different forms of early adversity may leave different biological signatures. Its public evidence base focuses on young children and measures stress-related inflammatory and HPA-axis markers alongside family, caregiver, and socioeconomic context.

Health's Early Roots & Origins HERO is the project framework used in the Pediatric Research study and Canadian HERO public materials.

JPB Research Network The published HERO work is linked to the JPB Research Network on Toxic Stress.

HERO-US and HERO-CAN The lab is extending HERO across U.S. and Canadian research settings.

From Experience to Biology

HERO uses child-friendly biological and behavioral measures to move beyond exposure-only screening and toward a more precise understanding of stress activation and resilience.

Context

Caregiver surveys capture socioeconomic disadvantage, family functioning, caregiver depression and anxiety, and other features of the child's early environment.

Inflammation

Published HERO analyses include salivary inflammatory biomarkers such as IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha.

HPA Axis

Hair samples are used to assess stress-related HPA-axis markers, including cortisol, cortisone, and DHEA.

Resilience

The broader HERO framework combines non-invasive biological markers, behavioral measures, and contextual data to support earlier, mechanism-informed intervention.

Published Findings

The 2023 Pediatric Research paper analyzed two independent HERO samples of young U.S. children and reported that biological response systems may react differently to different types of early-life adversity.

Higher socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with higher TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and DHEA in the discovery sample.

Higher family dysfunction was associated with higher cortisol and cortisone levels.

The study observed an interaction between socioeconomic disadvantage and family dysfunction for cortisol.

Findings were partially replicated in a second independent sample, supporting continued validation of HERO measures.

Why It Matters

HERO is designed to help researchers, parents, providers, and communities understand child stress and resilience earlier and more objectively. The long-term aim is to support pediatric practice and public systems with tools that identify physiological disruption before visible symptoms become entrenched.

Develop validated measures of stress activation in early childhood.
Distinguish biological signatures linked to different forms of adversity.
Support tailored early intervention instead of one-size-fits-all risk screening.
Adapt HERO implementation for U.S. and Canadian healthcare and community contexts.

Evidence and Sources

Selected public sources used for this page. Current program details also draw on owner-provided CV and personal statement materials.

Primary paper Linking specific biological signatures to different childhood adversities: findings from the HERO project. Pediatric Research, 2023. PubMed PMID 36650307 record for the HERO Project publication. Open-access full text PubMed Central full-text version of the HERO Project article. Canadian HERO Study Public event page describing Canadian HERO and Patricia Silveira as principal investigator.