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Charles A. Nelson,III, Ph.D. is an American scientist who specializes in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience. His work is focused on brain and behavioral development throughout infancy and childhood, with several different areas of study within that field. From the beginning of his career, Dr. Nelson has been interested in the development and neural roots of memory and how babies and children learn to recognize faces and facial expressions of emotion. In the last decade, Dr. Nelson has also been working with infants and children at high risk for developing autism (e.g. children with a particular genetic variants or who have an older sibling with autism). Dr. Nelson is also interested in the ways that early experience, particularly adverse biological or psychosocial experience, can influence a child’s developmental trajectory. Regarding the effects of early biological adversity, Dr. Nelson has studied the impact of factors such as being born prematurely, whose mothers were diabetic during pregnancy, or having been deprived of oxygen. Dr. Nelson has also studied the effects of early psychosocial adversity: as a Primary Investigator for the Bucharest Early Intervention Project for the last 15 years, Dr. Nelson and his colleagues have been studying Romanian children who were abandoned at birth and raised in institutions. Dr. Nelson is also involved in projects in Pakistan, Brazil and Bangladesh.

At Harvard, Dr. Nelson is a Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; a Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education; and a Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health. He teaches classes at both Harvard College and in the School of Education. He also sits on the steering committee of both the Harvard Center on the Developing Child and the Harvard interfaculty initiative on Mind, Brain and Behavior. At Boston Children’s Hospital, where Dr. Nelson’s laboratory is based, he is the Director of Research in the Division of Developmental Medicine and is the Richard David Scott Professor of Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research

Books by Dr. Nelson

 * Nelson CA, Fox NA, & Zeanah, CH (2014). Romania’s Abandoned Children: Deprivation, Brain Development and the Struggle for Recovery. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA
 * Nelson CA, de Haan M, & Thomas KM (2006). Neuroscience and Cognitive Development: The Role of Experience and the Developing Brain. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
 * Bloom FE, Nelson CA, & Lazerson A (2001). Brain, Mind, and Behavior (3rd ed). New York: Worth Publishing.

News Coverage of Dr. Nelson
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Academic Achievements, Awards & Honors

 * Honours in Psychology, McGill University (1975)
 * Who’s Who in America
 * Who’s Who in the World
 * Directory of American Scholars
 * McKnight-Land Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota (1986–1988)
 * Joseph P. Kennedy Award
 * Core Group Member, MacArthur Foundation
 * Research Network on Psychopathology and Development (1994– Present)
 * Fellow, American Psychological Society
 * Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
 * Fellow, American Psychological Association
 * Chair, MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development (1998– 2005)
 * Distinguished McKnight University Professor, University of Minnesota (1998– 2005)
 * Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota (2002– 2005)
 * Honorary Member, Romanian Academy of Medical Sciences
 * Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research, Children's Hospital Boston Harvard Medical School (2005– Present)
 * Honorary M.S.  Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts  2005
 * Knowles Scholar, Harvard College (2008, 2010)
 * Certificate of Merit Co-Author of Award-Winning Essay, Art and Science Category, Plastic Surgery Education Foundation Awards (2009)
 * Resident Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center (2011)
 * Doctor Honoris Causa, Bucharest University (2011)
 * Astor Visiting Professor lecture, Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University (2011)
 * Honorable Mention in Biological Psychiatry, Ziskind-Somerfeld Research Award, 2012
 * Leon Eisenberg Award, Harvard Medical School, 2013
 * Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2013-)
 * Maureen Evans Award, Joint Council on International Children’s Services, 2013