Kathryn L. Humphreys, Ph.D., Ed.M. is an Associate Professor and Chancellor Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, where she directs the Stress and Early Adversity (SEA) Laboratory. Her research examines how early caregiving experiences and environmental contexts shape neurobiological and psychological development from the perinatal period through early childhood, with the goal of identifying mechanisms of risk and resilience and informing intervention and policy.

Dr. Humphreys’s work integrates developmental psychopathology, attachment theory, and cognitive and behavioral approaches using multimethod designs that combine naturalistic observation, experimental paradigms, neuroimaging, and intervention research. A central focus of her program is understanding how everyday caregiving experiences influence children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, and how these processes contribute to both vulnerability and resilience among populations exposed to early adversity.

In a complementary line of research, Dr. Humphreys leads longitudinal studies investigating neuroplasticity during pregnancy using multimodal neuroimaging. This work characterizes how the brain changes across pregnancy, the factors that shape these changes, and their functional consequences, providing new insight into a major but historically understudied period of adult brain development. 

Dr. Humphreys’s training spans clinical psychology, developmental science, and neuroscience. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, a master’s degree in Risk and Prevention from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed specialized clinical training in infant mental health at the Tulane University School of Medicine, where she began her long-standing involvement with the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, followed by an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University focused on stress, neurodevelopment, and mental health.

Since joining the Vanderbilt faculty in 2018, Dr. Humphreys has developed an integrative, collaborative research program and leads multidisciplinary teams of psychologists, neuroscientists, engineers, and data scientists. Her work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, including multiple R01 awards and an NSF CAREER Award.

Dr. Humphreys is deeply committed to mentorship and training and works closely with postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers within the SEA Lab, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and supporting trainees’ development as independent scientists.

Read a FABBS Scientist Spotlight (2023) featuring Dr. Humphreys.