Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Linking Childhood Adversity with Psychopathology Across the Life-Course

Dr. Katie McLaughlin is a clinical psychologist with interests in how environmental experience influences brain and behavioral development in children and adolescents. She has a joint Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology from Yale University and is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. Her research examines how adverse environmental experiences shape emotional, cognitive, and neurobiological development throughout childhood and adolescence. Specifically, Dr. McLaughlin's work seeks to understand how experiences of stress, trauma, and social disadvantage in childhood alter developmental processes in ways that increase risk for psychopathology. Her research uncovers specific developmental processes that are altered by adverse environmental experiences early in life and that in turn increase risk for mental health problems in children and adolescents. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for the development of interventions to prevent the onset of psychopathology in children who experience adversity. Dr. McLaughlin's overarching goal is to contribute to greater understanding of the role of environmental experience in shaping children's development, so as to inform the creation of interventions, practices, and policies to promote adaptive development in society's most vulnerable members. Dr. McLaughlin's research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute on Aging, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation, the Charles H. Hood Foundation, the Brain and Behavior Foundation, the One Mind Institute/AIM Youth Mental Health, and the Raikes Foundation. She has received early career awards from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Jacobs Foundation, as well as the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association and a MERIT Award from NIMH. Dr. McLaughlin has received the Highly Cited Researcher in Psychology and Psychiatry designation from Web of Science every year since 2016, which is awarded to scientists with the top 1% of citations in their discipline. Link to join: https://duke.zoom.us/j/95234204565