Reversibility Meeting Attendee and Staff List
Third Meeting of the Network on Reversibility: 14th/ 15th October 2013 Attendees List
Network Members
// David Reiss, MD,
(Network co-leader) / Yale University and consultant, National Institute on Aging. Dr. Reiss studies differences among families in their patterns of interaction and the impact of these patterns on adolescent and adult mental and physical health. Using twin and adoption designs that include detailed measures of family and peer relationships he has explored the influence of genetic and environmental processes on parental, marital, and sibling and peer relationships, used genetic analyses to improve estimates of the influence of social environment in child and adult development, and studied how genetic and social influences moderate each other across the life span.
/ Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD, Columbia University.
/ Dr. Brooks Gunn focuses on the social, emotional, and academic development of children and adolescents and the development of parental competence in young adults. She has examined in detail the role of family and neighborhood and has elucidated persistent effects of exposure to poverty and violence in the family and community. She has investigated a broad range of interventions and has linked her developmental research to implications for and changes in public policy
/ Frances Champagne, PhD, Columbia University.
(Joining via Webex) / Dr. Champagne studies in detail, using rodent models, the links between prenatal, immediate postnatal, and weaning experiences on subsequent development of social, reproductive, and maternal behavior. She also explores the specific role of paternal influences. She additionally investigates the role in development of variation in the expression of genes regulating neuroendocrine receptors and has instigated interventions that offset early experiential adversity.
/ Gabriella Conti, PhD, University of Chicago.
/ Dr. Conti is an economist whose research interests include understanding health inequality and, in particular, the role of inequalities in education. Working with James Heckman she has developed general models that account for both measured and unmeasured selection effects and has incorporated genetic influences into these analytic strategies. She is currently applying this work to health inequalities across the life span and across generations as well as working with Dr. Suomi on rhesus models linking early adversity to unfavorable health outcomes in aging
/ Elissa Epel, PhD, University of California, San Francisco.
/ Dr. Epel studies the relationship among stress, neuroendocrine systems, and physical and mental health. A key focus of her work is the mediating role of telomere length and telomerase in these relationships. She has documented the links, for example, between fetal exposure to maternal stress and telemetric shortening in adults, as well the remediating role of intervention, including meditation techniques, in restoring telomere length and function.
/ Keith Godfrey, PhD., University of Southampton.
/ Dr. Godfrey works with the Southampton Women’s Survey, which is the largest extant prospective representative sample of women followed from a period prior to pregnancy, during pregnancy, and—with their child—for over decade following pregnancy. He explores mechanisms linking maternal health, particularly nutritional status, to the cognitive and physical health of their children and searches for postnatal factors that moderate these relationships. He has carried out detailed studies of placental physiology and gene expression as well as cardiovascular stress reactivity in children as mediating mechanisms of these long-term prenatal effects.
/ John Hobcroft, PhD, University of York.
/ Professor Hobcraft studies the long-term effects of adversity in early life. He works with several prospective longitudinal cohorts to examine cohort-specific effects. He has examined a wide range of early adverse experience seeking to understand the contribution of each. In addition to economic privation these have included instability in housing arrangement, early signs of school difficulties and early pregnancy. He examines the impact of early adversity on adult mental and physical health as well as on social isolation and exclusion. His interest in the interplay between genes and adverse environments includes study of the interplay of educational privation, genes and post-partum depression. Professor Hobcraft serves as member of the Network as well as liaison to the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council.
/ Bruce McEwen, PhD. Rockefeller U.
(Joining via Webex) / Dr. McEwen studies the role of neuroendocrine system in mediating the effects of acute and chronic stress on the development, morphology, and function of the brain. His work has illuminated the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which this mediating effect is achieved and has provided compelling models for understanding anxiety and depression across the life span as well as patterns of health and decline in aging.
/ Terrie Moffitt, PhD, Duke University and Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College
(Joining via Webex) / Dr. Moffitt studies the life course of impulsive indivduals and distinguishes those where this pattern appears in children in contrast to adolescence. She also studies the role of gene-environment interaction in the evolution of these syndromes as well as in range of other psychological problems. She additionally explores the protective effects of gene variants on the long-term effects of childhood adversity as well as possible alteration in a high-risk life course by protection from “adolescent snares.”
Christine Power, PhD, University College London.
/ Dr. Power utilizes epidemiological samples, particularly the 1958 British Cohort, for detailing links between early childhood adversity and the development of cognitive and health difficulties at mid-life. She is concerned with both mental health and physical health and has explored a range of mediating mechanisms, including patterns of gene expression. She has studied the childhood origins of exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy and several factors, including exercise, that moderate the effects of early childhood adversity on adult health.
/ Teresa Seeman, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles.
/ Dr. Seeman has studied cognitive, physical, and mental health in aging subjects. She has investigated the early origins of differences in these domains, including the effects of low socioeconomic status, and has studied psychological, hormonal and inflammatory mediators of these early influences as well as moderators such as maternal support and a coping strategy called “shift and persist.”
/ Essi Viding, PhD, University College London.
/ Dr. Viding has used assessments of parenting and neuroimaging as well as behavioral and molecular genetics to map the effects of child maltreatment and the pathogenesis of conduct problems with a special interest in callous and unemotional behaviors. Her studies include the neurobiological analyses of social cognition to better understand the evolution of both internalizing and externalizing disorders.
Consultants
/ Alissa Goodman, Institute of Education/ As the Principal Investigator of the 1958 British Birth Cohort, known as the National Child Development Study (NCDS), Alissa leads the team responsible for developing its content, design and analysis. Alissa is an economist whose main research interests relate to inequality, poverty, education policy, and the intergenerational transmission of health and well-being. In her previous employment, she has served as deputy director of the latest British birth cohort study, known as Life Study; and as deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
/ Caroline Relton, PhD, University of Newcastle
/ Professor Relton’s research interest is in understanding the role of epigenetic variation on health. Her current research activities include applying DNA methylation microarray and high-throughput quantitative methods (Pyrosequencing and Sequenom MassArray) for the large scale analysis of epigenetic patterns to investigate both the determinants of epigenetic variation (genetic and environmental) and the consequences with respect to common complex diseases
/ Eamon McCrory, PhD, University College London
/ Together with Essi Viding Eamon co-directs the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at UCL. Their research focuses on early adversity and behavioural problems in childhood, particularly conduct disorder using imaging, cognitive and genetic approaches. He has a particular interest in studying affective processing and potential neural markers of resilience in the context of childhood maltreatment.
Rosalind John, PHD, Cardiff University
/ Dr Rosalind John’s Main research interests are mammalian epigenetics with a focus on imprinted genes, embryonic growth and the early programming of adult diseases.
/ Andrea Danese Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London,
/ Dr Andrea Danese is a clinical scientist interested in developmental psychobiology and psychiatry. After training at the Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Dr. Danese joined the Faculty of the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and MRC Social, Genetic, and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry. His research focuses on the biological mechanisms through which early experiences influence child development and, thus, exert enduring effects on adult health. Dr. Danese is a co-investigator on the Environmental-Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, which follows 2,232 British twins born in 1994-1995. He is also a consultant on the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, a life-course investigation of 1,000 individuals born in 1972-1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand
ESRC Staff
/ Adrian Alsop, ESRC/ Adrian holds a degree in Economics and has been with the UK’s Econmic and Social Research Council (ESRC) since 1989 in a variety of roles including committee secretary, corporate policy and theme co-ordinator. As ESRC’s current Director for Research, Partnerships, and International Strategy he is responsible for the development and commissioning of the Council’s research agenda and takes management responsibility for the Research, Partnerships and International Strategy Directorate, which includes teams leading on the development and commissioning of research across the Council’s portfolio and international activity
Joy Todd, ESRC
/ Head of Health and Human Behaviour Team, ESRC
Naomi Beaumont, ESRC
/ Senior Portfolio Manager, Health and Human Behaviour Team, ESRC
Laura Mora, ESRC
/ International Policy Manager, ESRC
Gregory Meredith, ESRC
/ Research Officer, Health and Human Behaviour Team, ESRC
BBSRC Staff
Jeff Grainger, BBSRC/ Head of Bioscience for Health, BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, UK)
Louisa Jenkin, BBSRC
/ Strategy and Policy Manager, Bioscience for Health Sector, BBSRC
Science Writer
Ian Jones, Jinja Publishing/ Ian Jones is a publisher, editor and writer, specialising in science and medical communication. Ian has more than 20 years’ editorial and publishing management experience, including development and delivery of print and electronic publications. Ian has worked as a publishing consultant since 2007, providing high-quality editorial and publishing support to a range of blue-chip clients in science and medicine.