Developmental neuroscience of early adversity and mental health
Early life experiences profoundly influence brain, behavioral, and cognitive development. From variation in the predictability of the childhood environment to experiences of stress or adversity, the environmental contexts in which we develop actively shape our learning and behavioral repertoires for years to come. Dylan Gee's research program reflects a longstanding fascination with how humans learn and adapt through experiences when the brain is particularly plastic early in life. The Clinical Affective Neuroscience & Development Lab (CANDLab) takes a multimodal approach (e.g., behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, psychophysiology, ecological momentary assessment) to 1) characterize changes in corticolimbic circuitry related to the development of learning and regulation across childhood and adolescence; 2) elucidate how early-life experiences influence neurodevelopment and behavior; and 3) translate this knowledge about sensitive periods and development to optimize interventions for children and adolescents.
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Biography
Gee received her bachelor's degree in psychological and brain sciences from Dartmouth College in 2007 and her PhD in clinical psychology from UCLA in 2015. She completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at Weill Cornell, and launched CANDLab at Yale in 2016. Outside the lab, she enjoys running, exploring nature, and spending time with her family.