Dylan Gee

Childhood experiences can have a profound effect on mental health, and the majority of mental health disorders emerge during development. Understanding how biological and environmental factors interact to shape developmental pathways of risk and resilience is critical to optimizing well-being. Research in my lab aims to characterize how corticolimbic circuitry in the brain develops to support emotional learning and regulation, to elucidate how early environments (e.g., caregiving, stress, and trauma) influence mental health across the lifespan, and to translate this knowledge to promote resilience and inform interventions for anxiety and stress-related disorders. These investigations have implications for the early identification and treatment of mental health disorders, and can help to guide how parents, teachers, schools, communities, and society support youth mental health.