Dr. Lane Strathearn

Dr Lane Strathearn MD PhD is the Physician Director of the Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD) at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, which incorporates the new Hawkeye Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (P50 Hawk-IDDRC, co-directed with Dr Ted Abel), Iowa’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) and the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. He is a tenured professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Pharmacology, and Psychological and Brain Sciences, with an Endowed Chair in Pediatric Neurodevelopment, and is the Division Director for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics.

Both in Australia and the US, he has been involved in longitudinal and clinical science research on the effects of early social experience and attachment on child development. As a post-doctoral fellow, he initially obtained an NIH-funded K23 award to study parent-child attachment using functional MRI, which led to several R01 grants involving functional neuroimaging, parent-child attachment, and randomized controlled trials of intranasal oxytocin. His current research is examining the role of early social experience in the development of autism, using epigenetic markers and a new research app called BabySteps.

Title:  The impact of abuse, neglect and social experience on behavior and neurodevelopment: A 30-year perspective
Presenter:  Dr. Lane Strathearn, MBBS FRACP PhD, University of Iowa Children’s Hospital

Learning Objectives:

• Explain basic neural mechanism through which early experience impacts child development, including dopamine and oxytocin pathways
• List the developmental and behavioral outcomes associated with child abuse and neglect, particularly psychological maltreatment, and
• Identify psychosocial risk factors for ongoing developmental and behavioral concerns, in order to provide appropriate support for families.