Michael S. Gaffrey, PhD, is a ZERO TO THREE Fellow. He is an assistant professor and licensed clinical psychologist in the Child Psychiatry Division at the Washington University School of Medicine.
He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2009 and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental affective neuroscience and early depression at the Washington University School of Medicine from 2009–2012. Currently, Dr. Gaffrey is directing research focused on the use of brain imaging techniques to improve understanding of early emotional development in both healthy and depressed preschoolers and to develop novel interventions for depression during the preschool period. In addition, he is actively involved in developing an applied line of research that integrates neuroscience into the study of preventative interventions for parenting-at-risk conditions, including significant parenting stress and maternal depression. In the future, Dr. Gaffrey intends to continue pursuing the integration of basic and applied research as a means to not only more effectively help infants and families who are at risk for poor outcomes but also to promote the well-being of infants and families through systems change more generally. Dr. Gaffrey’s research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, and McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience.
