Mary Dozier, Ph.D. is the Amy E. du Pont Chair of Child Development at the University of Delaware. Mary and her lab study the development of young children who have experienced adversity. Together they have developed an evidence-based intervention, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), that is intended to enhance children’s ability to regulate behavior, emotions, and physiology. Each of the three components of the ABC intervention targets a specific issue that was identified as critical through more basic studies of attachment and stress neurobiology. Mary and the lab have conducted a series of randomized clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. ABC has proven successful in enhancing attachment, cortisol production, emotion expression, and executive functioning. Recent efforts have involved adapting the intervention for toddlers, and for children adopted internationally; disseminating the intervention to other sites while maintaining fidelity; and examining additional biological outcomes. Mary has been Associate Editor of Child Development and is on several editorial boards. She is a regular member of an NIH grant review panel, and frequently serves as ad hoc member on additional panels. She was a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Maltreatment. She was awarded the Ainsworth-Bowlby Award for her research on vulnerable families, and an NIMH FIRST Award. She has been funded continuously by NIH since 1989.
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