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  • Building the Brain's "Air Traffic Control" System


    Being able to focus, hold, and work with information in mind, filter distractions, and switch gears is like having an air traffic control system at a busy airport to manage the arrivals and departures of dozens of planes on multiple runways. In the brain, this air traffic control mechanism is called executive functioning, a group of skills that helps us to focus on multiple streams of information at the same time, and revise plans as necessary. This Working Paper explains how these lifelong skills develop, what can disrupt their development, and how supporting them pays off in school and life. Read more & download PDF >>

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  • Early Experiences Can Alter Gene Expression and Affect Long-Term Development


    New scientific research shows that environmental influences can actually affect whether and how genes are expressed. Thus, the old ideas that genes are "set in stone" or that they alone determine development have been disproven. In fact, scientists have discovered that early experiences can determine how genes are turned on and off and even whether some are expressed at all. This Working Paper summarizes why this growing scientific evidence supports the need for society to re-examine the way it thinks about the circumstances and experiences to which young children are exposed. Read more & download PDF >>

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  • Persistent Fear & Anxiety Can Affect Young Children's Learning and Development


    Science shows that early exposure to circumstances that produce persistent fear and chronic anxiety can have lifelong consequences by disrupting the developing architecture of the brain. This Working Paper summarizes in clear language why, while some of these experiences are one-time events and others may reoccur or persist over time, all of them have the potential to affect how children learn, solve problems, and relate to others. Read more & download PDF >>

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Faculty Spotlights
      

  • Faculty Spotlight: Michelle Albert


    In her clinical practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, Center-affiliated faculty member Michelle Albert treats adult cardiovascular patients. In her research, Albert studies how to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease in different racial and ethnic groups and the role chronic psychological stress may play. So why is she interested in childhood?  “Disease starts early in life, basically prenatally,” says Albert. “I think understanding the risk factors, the biological mechanisms, and their interplay with social mechanisms…is extremely important.” Read more >>

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  • Faculty Spotlight: Günther Fink


    As a health economist, Günther Fink had never focused on early childhood development issues. That was until he was in the midst of studying whether a major, ongoing anti-malaria initiative in Zambia could—beyond the obvious effects on health—benefit the long-term development of the impoverished country. Fink wondered, too, if the campaign could have an effect on child development. It turned out that if he wanted a comprehensive, culturally appropriate measure of child development, he’d have to build a new one—a task easier said than done. Read more >>

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    Faculty Spotlight: Hirokazu Yoshikawa


    The intersection of research, policy, and practice is where, most of the time, you’ll find developmental and community psychologist Hirokazu Yoshikawa. With experience and expertise that ranges widely but revolves around improving the lives of the most vulnerable children and families, Yoshikawa, a professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Center-affiliatedfaculty member, plays a leading role in several Center-based initiatives. Read more >>

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  • Faculty Spotlight: Matthew K. Nock


    One of the most vexing problems in attempting to understand and treat suicide-prone adolescents is that one of the times they are most likely to succeed in taking their own lives is immediately afterthey’ve been discharged from the hospital. In other words, right after they’ve assured everyone they’re just fine. Learn more about Matthew K. Nock’s work to develop more effective ways to predictadolescent suicide—before it’s too late. Read more >>

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Student Opportunities

  • Harvard Courses


    Whether you are an undergraduate or a graduate student, Harvard University offers a wealth of courses in a variety of scientific disciplines and policy areas that cover learning, behavior, and health from both domestic and international perspectives. Students with interests in research and application, in the underlying biological foundations of child development, in the social and environmental contexts that influence health and well-being, in program development and evaluation, or in policy areas ranging from children and families to economic development and human capital formation to education to mental health, will find much to choose from across the campus.

    View a selection of courses offered by the Center's affiliated faculty >>

    Read more about learning opportunities at the Center >>
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  • LECTURE VIDEO

    The Brain on Stress: How the Social Environment
    Gets Under the Skin

    Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D., a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, presented "The Brain on Stress: How the Social Environment Gets Under the Skin" on September 27, as part of the Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series sponsored by the Center. Video of McEwen's 90-minute presentation, which examined how chronic stress can cause changes in the brain and body that lead to disease, is now available for viewing.

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    Read more about the Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series >>
     

Science of Early Childhood

A growing body of scientific evidence shows that early influences—whether positive or negative—are critical to the development of children’s brains and their lifelong health. More >>

Innovation

The mission of the Center on the Developing Child is to leverage science to enhance child well-being through innovations in policy and practice. More >>

Foundations of Lifelong Health

A vital and productive society with a prosperous and sustainable future is built on a foundation of healthy child development. When developing biological systems occur in an environment of positive early experiences, children have a greater chance to thrive and to grow up to be healthy adults. More >>

Understanding Intervention

Early childhood program evaluation studies indicate that it is possible to improve outcomes for vulnerable children as well as to generate positive social and economic benefits to society. More >>

Global Child Development

In an explicit effort to build an integrated international approach to child survival, health, and development in the earliest years of life, the Center has launched the Global Children’s Initiative as the centerpiece of its global child health and development agenda. More >>

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