Upcoming Webinars

This talk will focus on how public health and preventive medical scientists, as well as developmental and reproductive toxicologists, interpret and apply life course health developmental principles, with an emphasis on the first four principles of the Life Course Health Development (LCHD) framework (Health Development, Unfolding, Complexity, and Timing). The focus of this talk will be on early development and childhood, and the following learning objectives will be addressed:   1. Identifying how systems biology concepts inform public health decisions for improving health development 2. Defining the life course “exposome” taking lessons from a child cohort study 3. Discussing approaches for improving our understanding of within and between human variability across development using …

This webinar, part of the LCRN’s series based on the Handbook of Life Course Health Development, features Neal Halfon, MD, MPH – director of the Life Course Research Network (LCRN) – and Christopher B. Forrest, MD, PhD – pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.     In this webinar, Drs. Halfon and Forrest will present the 7 principles that comprise their life course health development framework, including the empirical evidence that underlies each principle and the implications for future research. By shining a light on how early experience conditions future biological responses and influences health development pathways, the presenters hope to encourage theory building and testing, inspire innovative transdisciplinary research, and lead to future discussions that can help …

This webinar, part of the LCRN’s series based on the Handbook of Life Course Health Development, features Marco Del Giudice, PhD from the University of New Mexico.   Dr. Del Giudice is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico. His main research area is the evolutionary study of human development across the life span, with a focus on individual and sex differences and their neurobiological basis. He has published more than 60 papers and book chapters on a wide range of topics, from the biology of developmental plasticity to the classification of mental disorders in an evolutionary framework. With his collaborators he has advanced the …

This Research Brief is based on one of 26 chapters published in the Handbook of Life Course Health Development.   Access the Research Brief here: LCHD Summary Briefs Ch. 2

This is one of 26 chapters published in the Handbook of Life Course Health Development.   Abstract: The complexity of life course health development research demands rigorous methodology and analytics. Advanced techniques, improved estimation algorithms, and user-accessible software/hardware developments signal what I see as a paradigm shift in how life science research will be conducted now and in the future. Although techniques such as structural equation modeling (SEM), multilevel modeling (MLM), and mixture distribution modeling have permeated the research agenda in many fields, the capability of these tools has hardly been fully utilized. The craft of life course health development methodology and analytics requires dedication, sophistication, and a knack for molding …

This is one of 26 chapters published in the Handbook of Life Course Health Development.   Abstract: Concepts of what constitutes health, and theories about how health is produced and optimized, are constantly evolving in response to myriad social and cultural expectations shaped by our contemporary worldview, scientific advances, improvements in health interventions, and the changing capacity of the health system. Stimulated originally by a series of studies demonstrating how growth during early life is related to chronic health conditions that emerge many decades later, new research is demonstrating how complex developmental processes integrate a range of biological, behavioral, social, and environmental influences that modify gene expression, modulate physiologic and behavioral …

ONLINE VERSION OUT NOW! This handbook synthesizes and analyzes the growing knowledge base on life course health development (LCHD) from the prenatal period through emerging adulthood, with implications for clinical practice and public health. It presents LCHD as an innovative field with a sound theoretical framework for understanding wellness and disease from a lifespan perspective, replacing previous medical, biopsychosocial, and early genomic models of health. Interdisciplinary chapters discuss major health concerns (diabetes, obesity), important less-studied conditions (hearing, kidney health), and large-scale issues (nutrition, adversity) from a lifespan viewpoint. In addition, chapters address methodological approaches and challenges by analyzing existing measures, studies, and surveys. The book concludes with the editors’ research …

Health is a component of and a key resource for human development. It results from a cumulative process of continuous interaction between exposures and experiences, which have an impact at both the individual and population levels, not only episodically but over time, and with trans-generational effects. The increase in human life expectancy by approximately 30 years over the last century provides a compelling reason to expand health-related goals beyond simple survival. In the Region of the Americas, the effort to increase life expectancy has been successful; however, the increase in healthy life expectancy has not kept pace. On average, 8 of every 10 people who are born in the Region …

This webinar – part of LCRN’s series on The State of Life Course Health Development Research – features Marco Del Giudice, PhD.   Dr. Del Giudice is Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico. His main research area is the evolutionary study of human development across the life span, with a focus on individual and sex differences and their neurobiological basis. He has published more than 60 papers and book chapters on a wide range of topics, from the biology of developmental plasticity to the classification of mental disorders in an evolutionary framework. With his collaborators he has advanced the Adaptive Calibration Model, an evolutionary-developmental model …

This webinar, part of the LCRN’s series based on the Handbook of Life Course Health Development,  features Pilyoung Kim, PhD.   Dr. Kim is Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of the Family and Child Neuroscience lab at the University of Denver (http://www.pilyoungkim.org/). Dr. Kim’s long-term research career trajectory is to examine the early life origins of socioeconomic disparities in health from a neurobiological perspective. Her current work focuses on the prospective effects of perinatal exposures to poverty-related chronic stress on the neural systems in new mothers and infants. Dr. Kim received her Master’s Degree from Harvard and her PhD from Cornell before completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Developmental Affective …