Dr. Carl Corter’s research focuses on integrated early childhood services in the community, including child care and kindergarten, as well as on parenting and parental involvement in school and other services. He collaborated on Toronto First Duty: Early Learning and Care for Every Child, a universal early learning and care program model. Dr. Corter is with the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study and the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE.

Dr. Alison Fleming’s research considers the role of different brain mechanisms, the influence of early experiences and how genetic, hormonal and sensory factors affect mothering in animals and humans. Dr. Fleming is with the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Mississauga and is a Canada Research Chair and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Dr. Jennifer Jenkins’ key area of research concerns the emotion processes in children and in family life that help us to understand psychopathology in children. Dr. Jenkins is with the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE and holds the Atkinson Chair in Early Child Development & Education.

Dr. Stephen Lye, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, is the inaugural Executive Director of the Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development and Canada Research Chair in Improvement in Health and Function. A world authority in women’s and infants’ health, he is launching the Ontario Birth Study, which will be a major research resource for the IHD.

Dr. Stephen Matthews researches development of systems in the brain that regulate hormonal and behavioural responses to stress. His lab investigates how different fetal environments can alter the developmental trajectory of these systems, leading to lifelong changes in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function—effects that are evident for multiple generations. A number of pathologies, including diabetes, hypertension and depression, have been associated with chronic changes in HPA function. Dr. Matthews is Chair of U of T’s Department of Physiology.

Dr. Marla B. Sokolowski (BSc 1977, PhD 1981) is the inaugural Academic Director of the IHD. Her work on genes in fruit flies has important implications for how genes interact with the environment, and how similar genes function in humans. Dr. Sokolowski is a University Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the Faculty of Arts & Science. She is also a Canada Research Chair, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Co-director of the Experience-Based Brain and Biological Development program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.