Avshalom Caspi

Avshalom Caspi is the Edward M. Arnett Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, Professor of Personality Development at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience, King’s College London, and Research Professor at the University of Oslo. His expertise is in developmental psychology, personality psychology, mental health, life-course epidemiology, and genomics in behavioral science.

His work is concerned with three questions: (1) How do childhood experiences shape aging and the course of health inequalities across the life span? (2) How do genetic differences between people shape the way they respond to their environments? (3) How do mental health problems unfold across and shape the life course? His research integrates evidence ranging from in-depth clinical assessments to big data analyses to answer the Romantic poet’s question: Is the child the father of the man? Studying lives is, of course, a multidisciplinary endeavor, and Caspi’s research involves collaborations with economists, epidemiologists, sociologists, demographers, geneticists, neuroscientists, medical scientists, even dentists.

For his research, Dr. Caspi has received both the Early Career Contribution Award and the Distinguished Career Award from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Caspi was also awarded a Royal Society-Wolfson Merit Award, and was a recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, the Sackler Prize for Distinguished Achievement in Developmental Psychobiology, the Brain & Behavior Foundation Ruane Prize for Outstanding Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research, and the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize for research on youth development.