Brain and Early Experiences Lab Mission Statement

Our research mission is to find pathways to resilience and to help children experiencing early life stress to reach their potential.

In pursuit of this mission:

• We focus on children who are underrepresented in developmental research, including children from minoritized racial and ethnic groups, children living in poverty, and children in low and middle income countries. We aim to increase representation and contribute to a nuanced, culturally specific understanding of experiences that promote healthy child development locally and globally. 
• We characterize the role of early life stress in neural, cognitive, socioemotional, and physiological development.
• We identify positive early family experiences that support healthy sleep and brain development, enable children to regulate biological stress, and help them to reach their cognitive potential.
• We consider how multiple levels of the child’s environment, from parents to neighborhoods to social policies and cultural context, interact to nurture children.
• We investigate how best to work with parents to improve early childhood outcomes in families experiencing adversity.

As developmentalists, we recognize that we ourselves are continuously developing and learning, and that our perspectives are shaped by our own experiences. We believe that diversity of thought is good for science. On our research team, we value diversity, equity, and inclusion with regard to cultural and socioeconomic background, racial and ethnic identity, disability, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+ identity, language, country of origin, age, and life experience. We have a growth mindset and believe it is okay to make mistakes, to be vulnerable, and to seek help. We aim to create a safe and inclusive community in which everyone feels heard and is supported in their individual growth.

We are committed to:

• rigorous methodology, scientific integrity, and transparency
• mentorship and fostering learning opportunities for developing researchers
• interdisciplinary and international collaboration
• building lasting and meaningful community partnerships
• making our research accessible to people of all backgrounds