Dr. Emma Adam is Edwina S. Tarry Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research, and President of the International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology. Adam has a PhD in Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota and an MA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She is a developmental psychologist and developmental psychobiologist, with a focus on adolescent stress and health. Her research focuses on the naturalistic/ambulatory assessment of everyday influences on stress-sensitive biological systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sleep, and the implications of variations in HPA axis activity and sleep for emotional and physical health and academic attainment across the lifespan, with a particular focus on adolescence. Adam’s work has revealed racial and socioeconomic disparities in stress exposure, HPA-axis and sleep processes, with implications for understanding disparities in health and attainment. Most recently, Adam is implementing and evaluating a series of RCT interventions designed to reduce adolescent stress, improve the regulation of stress biology, and reduce health and academic disparities. Adam has over 100 scientific publications and has
received the William T. Grant Scholars Award and the Curt Richter Award from the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (ISPNE) for her program of research.