Professor Terrie Moffitt appointed Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation
04 October 2010
Terrie Moffitt, Professor of Social Behaviour and Development at the Medical Research Council Social Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry at King’s and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University in North Carolina, has been appointed Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation.
The Nuffield Foundation is one of the UK's best known charitable trusts, established in 1943 by William Morris (Lord Nuffield), the founder of Morris Motors. It aims to improve social well-being in the widest sense and funds research and innovation in social policy and education, particularly in science, technology, engineering and maths. The Nuffield Foundation also works to build capacity in education, science and social science research, primarily in the UK, but also in Europe and Africa.
Professor Moffitt’s work spans psychology, criminology, and public health and employs a range of methods including epidemiology, neuropsychology, and genetics. She has made important contributions to understanding the origins and consequences of severe anti-social behaviour, and has also studied young people’s depression, psychosis, and substance abuse. Prof Moffitt has made major contributions to the study of gene-environment interactions, particularly in relation to conduct disorder and depression. Her work has demonstrated the importance of the childhood origins of adult mental and physical health, demonstrating that as many as half of adults with a psychiatric disorder had a diagnosable disorder before the age of 15. She is Associate Director of the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, which follows a cohort of 1,000 people born in 1972 in New Zealand, and directs the Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, which follows 1,100 British families with twins born in 1994-1995.
Professor Moffitt said: 'As a researcher and a clinician, I believe good quality evidence is essential to improving policy and practice. The Nuffield Foundation shares these values and demonstrates its commitment to independent and rigorous evidence through its funding programmes. I am looking forward to contributing to the Foundation’s work through my role as Trustee.'
Professor Moffitt is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Society of Criminology, the British Academy, Academia Europaea and King's College London. Her work has earned her prestigious awards, including the American Psychological Association's (APA) Early Career Contribution Award (1993), the APA Distinguished Career Award in Clinical Child Psychology (2006) and the Stockholm Prize for Criminology (2007). Professor Moffitt was a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ Working Party on Genetics and Human Behaviour and the US National Academy of Sciences Committee to Improve Research Information and Data on Firearms and Violence.
Professor Moffitt joins a distinguished board of Trustees comprising: Professor David Rhind (Chair), Andrew Dilnot, Dr Peter Doyle, Professor Lord Krebs, Professor Genevra Richardson and Professor Sir David Watson. She will serve an initial term of five years.
More information is available at www.nuffieldfoundation.org