Philip A. Fisher

Philip H. Knight Chair & Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon
Director, PSI Center for Translational Neuroscience

Topic: 
Three decades of developing scalable interventions to mitigate the neurobiological and psychosocial effects of early adversity
Date: 
Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm

Location: 

CERAS Learning Hall

Admission: 
Free and Open to the public

This presentation will describe the evolution of three evidence-based interventions to promote healthy child development among children 0-5 in the context of social and economic adversity. All three interventions have been informed by applications of a translational neuroscience framework to targeting hypothesized core causal biobehavioral mechanisms underlying the vulnerabilities arising from early stress exposure. As the scientific knowledge base for each intervention has unfolded over time, a number of challenges have also been encountered in terms of sustainability and scaling of the approaches. These challenges are reflective of systemic issues facing scientists, practitioners, and policy makers in early childhood, and they have informed our current and future work in ways that will be described in the presentation.

About Philip A. Fisher, Ph.D.

Dr. Fisher is Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he serves as Founding Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. He is also Senior Fellow and Director of the Translational Science Initiative at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. His research focuses on developing and evaluating early childhood interventions in socially and economically marginalized communities, and on translating scientific knowledge regarding healthy development under conditions of adversity for use in social policy and programs. He is particularly interested in the effects of early stressful experiences on children's neurobiological and psychological development, and in prevention and treatment programs for improving maltreated children's functioning in areas such as attachment to caregivers, relationships with peers, and functioning in school. He is also interested in the brain's plasticity in the context of therapeutic interventions. Dr. Fisher is the developer of Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers (TFCO-P), Kids in Transition to School (KITS), and Filming Interactions to Nuture Development. He is the recipient of the 2012 Society for Prevention Research Translational Science Award. He received his BA from Bowdoin College, and his MA and PhD from the University of Oregon.