Jamie Hanson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he combined information from the fields of child development, neuroscience, education, and clinical psychology. After finishing his degree in Wisconsin, Jamie received additional postdoctoral training at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He is interested in understanding how children and adolescents learn about their environment, how the brain circuitry involved with learning may be impacted by stressful experiences, and how these brain changes may confer risks for negative outcomes. Jamie’s interest in learning was in no small part inspired by his mother, Helen Hanson. Helen was a Philadelphia public school teacher for over 40 years, working primarily with special education students in low-income communities.

Dr. Hanson’s primary goal is to increase knowledge about the neurobiological effects of early life stress, with a hope that such information could aid in predicting and preventing stress-related, negative outcomes in education and mental health. He and his wife live in Highland Park and they are excited to continue connecting to the Pittsburgh community.