Lianne Woodward
Member
Professor Lianne Woodward is a Professor of Child Developmental Psychology and Team Leader of the Canterbury Child Development Research programme at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Previous appointments include Director of Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, co-Director of the Intellectual Disabilities and Development Research Centre at Washington University in St Louis and Head of School Health Sciences University of Canterbury. She completed her doctorate degree in Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, University of London.
Lianne’s main research focusses on how early life experiences affect children’s brain and behavioural development, with particular interests in the effects of preterm birth, prenatal drug exposures, parenting, and family psychosocial adversity. She is involved in multiple longitudinal studies of diverse populations, as well as several randomized controlled trials with international interdisciplinary teams. Her research aims to advance understanding of the complex biopsychosocial mechanisms that shape children’s mental health, cognitive, academic, and social development over time, and to use this knowledge to design intervention and prevention strategies that will improve child health and development.
Awards include HRC Liley Medal, the Condliffe Memorial Prize, James Cook Fellowship, Commonwealth Scholarship, William Georgetti Scholarship, and a team leadership award from Mass General Brigham for her work in establishing the Brigham Centre for Child Development.