Child & Brain Development
How do childhood experiences affect lifelong health?
One child is born to a wealthy family. Another is born into a family living in poverty. The child born into wealth will probably live a longer and healthier life – but not always. Some children born into poverty have a resilience that enables them to thrive throughout their lives despite the hardships they experienced when very young.
The Child & Brain Development program examines the effect of the early environment on children, and how adversity can have life-long effects on health and development. Over the past decade, program members have transformed our understanding of the interplay between nature and nurture, and generated important findings related to the biological underpinning of our early experiences as children.
Recent advances in technology, increased access to data, and an interdisciplinary environment are creating new opportunities for program members to find the answer to why some children thrive and others do not.
SELECTED PAPERS
Hertzman, C. and W.T. Boyce “How experience gets under the skin to create gradients in developmental health.” Annu Rev Public Health 31 (2010): 329-47. ABSTRACT
Boyce, W.T. and M.S. Kobor. "Development and the epigenome: the ‘synapse’ of gene-environment interplay." Developmental Science 18 (2015):1-23 ABSTRACT
Kobayashi, Y., Z. Ye and T.K. Hensch. “Clock genes control cortical critical period timing.” Neuron 86(1) (2015): 264-75. ABSTRACT
Hensch, T.K. et al. “Local GABA Circuit Control of Experience-Dependent Plasticity in Developing Visual Cortex.” Science 282 (1998): 1504-1508. ABSTRACT
Path to Societal Impact
We invite experts in industry, civil society, healthcare and government to join fellows in our Child & Brain Development program for in-depth, cross-sectoral conversations that drive change and innovation.
Public policy leaders in early childhood and health and CIFAR fellows in the Child & Brain Development program are developing effective public policies and intervention programs that address health disparities and improve children’s development, health, and well-being.
Areas of focus:
- Examining the compounding effects of multiple early adversities on children
- Exploring opportunities for effective policy interventions
- Ensuring intervention programs are tailored to the needs of diverse communities
Founded
2003
Renewal Dates
2007, 2012, 2019
Partners
Genome British Columbia
Supporters
Canada Life, The Joan and Clifford Hatch Foundation
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Developmental, molecular and evolutionary biology
Behavioural genetics
Epigenetics
Cognitive and developmental neuroscience
Biological, cognitive and developmental psychology
Psychiatry
Biological anthropology
Epidemiology
CIFAR Contact
Fellows & Advisors
Program Directors
Thomas McDade
Program Co-Director
Candice Odgers
Program Co-Director
Fellows
Daniel Ansari
Fellow
Daniel Belsky
Fellow
Ami Citri
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
David Forrest Clayton
Associate Fellow
Brian Dias
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Paul Frankland
Fellow
Anna Goldenberg
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Megan R. Gunnar
Associate Fellow
Daniela Kaufer
Associate Fellow
Michael S. Kobor
Fellow
Bryan Kolb
Associate Fellow
Joel D. Levine
Fellow
Sara Mostafavi
Fellow
Charles A. Nelson
Fellow
Kieran O'Donnell
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Marla B. Sokolowski
Fellow
Jenny Tung
Fellow
Advisors
Elisabeth Binder
Advisory Committee Chair
W. Thomas Boyce
Advisor
Takao K. Hensch
Advisor
Ulman Lindenberger
Advisor
Michael Meaney
Advisor
Gene Robinson
Advisor
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars
Ami Citri
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Brian Dias
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Allyson Mackey
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Kieran O'Donnell
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Nadine Provençal
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Tomás Ryan
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
Samuel Urlacher
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022
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CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.