Contact: Phil Fisher, 541-485-2711
EUGENE, Ore. — (Jan. 21, 2010) — Phil Fisher, a senior scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center and a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon (UO), has accepted membership invitations to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs (formerly the National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation).
The two groups, both based at Harvard University, have leading roles in shaping science and policies in early childhood research and intervention.
Fisher, who earned his doctorate in psychology in 1993 from the UO, is known for his research on childhood trauma and foster and adopted children. He studies the impacts of stressful experiences on children and the design of treatment programs for abused and neglected children. His research examines how such stresses impact brain biology. He also serves as co-director of a National Institute of Mental Health-funded grant examining the effects of early experiences on the activity of specific hormones (glucocorticoids) in the brain.
The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, which Fisher joins as a contributing member, was established in 2003. The council is a multi-disciplinary collaboration of scientists and scholars from universities across the United States and Canada designed to bring the science of early childhood and early brain development to bear on public policy decision-making. The council is widely known for it publication in October 2000 of “From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development.”
The National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, created as an initiative of the council, strives to explain why public investments should be made in the early childhood years. Fisher’s initial appointment with the forum is for three years.