Leah Somerville is an Associate Professor of Psychology and faculty member of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard University. Since joining the faculty at Harvard in 2012, she has been the director of the Affective Neuroscience and Development Laboratory. The lab’s research integrates psychological and neuroscientific approaches to inform how the way in which the brain develops through adolescence shapes psychological changes in cognitive, motivational, social, and emotional behavior. Leah’s lab has become engaged in conducting the Human Connectome Project in Development, which is a large, NIH-funded study on multimodal brain connectivity across development from middle childhood to early adulthood. More broadly, this work is aimed at revealing the mechanisms underlying unique features of adolescent emotions, decision-making, and risk for mental illness.
Leah completed her bachelors degree at the University of Wisconsin, her PhD at Dartmouth College, and postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, American Psychological Association, and National Institutes of Health.
Leah will be presenting her Young Investigator Award talk at the Flux Congress on Friday, August 31.
We would like to thank the highly competitive group who applied for the YIA and encourage applying next year.
