Pat Levitt

Dr. Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a policy council that assists policy makers, service providers and business leaders in making investments in child brain and physical health programs.

Dr. Levitt has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health and numerous private foundations since 1982. His basic and clinical research focuses on identifying the factors that assure healthy development of brain architecture involved in learning and emotional and social behaviour. Specific projects address how toxic stress responses in human infants and toddlers may be detected very early on in order to develop best practices for promoting resilience and better prevention and intervention. He also engages families in research who have a child with autism and co-occurring medical conditions, such as gastrointestinal disorders.

He has published over 300 scientific papers and has served on the editorial boards of 10 scientific journals — including his current role as editor-in-chief of Mind, Brain, and Education.