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Terrie Moffitt profile

Professor Terrie E. Moffitt PhD

Chair in Social Behaviour & Development

Biography

Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D., is the Professor of Social Development at King’s College London since 1996, and is now also Nannerl O. Keohane University Professor of Psychology at Duke University.  Her expertise is in the areas of longitudinal methods, developmental theory, clinical mental health research, neuropsychology, and genomics in behavioral science. She is interested in the consequences of a lifetime of mental and behavioral disorder on processes of aging. She is the associate director of the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, which follows a 1972 birth cohort in New Zealand.  She also founded the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk), which follows a 1994 birth cohort in the UK. Her research team was among the first cohorts to collect DNA, in 1996. Her team emphasizes representing science accurately to the media, and promotes public understanding of behavioural science. Prof. Moffitt also is a licensed clinical psychologist, with specialization in neuropsychological assessment. She has a published record of collaboration with criminologists, economists, geneticists, epidemiologists, sociologists, demographers, gerontologists, statisticians, neuroscientists, medical scientists, even opthalmologists and dentists.

Prof. Moffitt’s work was recognized in 2018 by election to the US National Academy of Medicine. She holds honorary doctorates from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and Universitat Basel, Switzerland. For her research, Prof. Moffitt has received both the American Psychological Association's Early Career Contribution Award and Distinguished Career Award. Prof. Moffitt was also awarded a Royal Society-Wolfson Merit Award, the Klaus-Grawe Prize, and was a recipient of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, NARSAD Ruane Prize, and Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize. Her service includes as a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation in the UK, member of the National Advisory Council on Aging in the USA, and chair of the Jury for the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize in Switzerland. She is a fellow of the British Academy, Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), Academia Europa, Association of Psychological Science, and the American Society of Criminology. Dr. Moffitt attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree in psychology. She continued her training in psychology at the University of Southern California, receiving an M.A. in experimental animal behavior, and a  Ph.D. in clinical psychology.  She also completed postdoctoral training at University of California, Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute. 

Further details are available at Prof. Moffitt's personal website.

Research interests:

Mental disorder and aging 

Research groups:

E-Risk Study group

Dunedin Study group 

Expertise and Public Engagement:

Her service includes as a trustee of the Nuffield Foundation in the UK, member of the National Advisory Council on Aging in the USA, and chair of the Jury for the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize in Switzerland. 

    Research

    E-Risk-Study-logo
    Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study

    E-Risk study, now in its third decade, follows the lives of 2232 twins born in 1994-95 in England and Wales. The study builds knowledge about how environmental and genetic factors shape behaviors, attitudes and health.

    London landscape
    Ageing Research at King's (ARK)

    Cross faculty consortium addressing ageing and healthy longevity.

    News

    Dunedin Study receives £1.4m award to explore how aging works during midlife

    New MRC funding will allow the study, which has followed the lives of 1037 babies born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973, to examine participants at age...

    Woman digital scan AI iStock-1164014959

    Colleagues recognised in King's Birthday Honours 2023

    King's colleagues and alumni have been recognised in the King's 2023 Birthday Honours List, for their extraordinary contributions and service.

    King's Birthday Honours

    IoPPN scientists awarded in first King's Birthday Honours

    Professor Louise Howard and Professor Terrie Moffitt have been awarded an OBE and MBE respectively in the first King’s Birthday Honours 2023. Professor Howard...

    Louise Howard & Terrie Moffitt

    Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study Receives £2.3m Funding

    The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study has been backed by £2.3 million funding from the UKRI Medical Research Council to collect new...

    E-Risk-Study-logo

    Lonely teenagers at greater risk of poor educational outcomes

    Research from King’s College London finds that loneliness experienced at age 12 increases the risk of finishing school with poor grades, as well as poor...

    ECSTeenboyReadingimg

    Professor Terrie Moffitt receives 2022 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology

    The prestigious award from the University of Louisville was presented to Professor Moffitt for her research on juvenile crime.

    Moffitt 780x440

    Childhood Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Poor Mental Health at Age 18

    A 25-year study of young adults living in the United Kingdom has found higher rates of mental illness symptoms among those exposed to greater levels of...

    Young boy wearing a face covering next to a busy road

    New research investigates how early-life mental health difficulties may lead to poor physical health and accelerated ageing in adulthood

    Researchers from King’s College London and Duke University find that mental health problems in early life may be associated with poorer physical health and...

    Middle aged man looking out a window looking depressed

    Events

    17MayARK-dementia

    Biological Ageing and Healthy Longevity

    Biological Ageing and Healthy Longevity

    Please note: this event has passed.

      Research

      E-Risk-Study-logo
      Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study

      E-Risk study, now in its third decade, follows the lives of 2232 twins born in 1994-95 in England and Wales. The study builds knowledge about how environmental and genetic factors shape behaviors, attitudes and health.

      London landscape
      Ageing Research at King's (ARK)

      Cross faculty consortium addressing ageing and healthy longevity.

      News

      Dunedin Study receives £1.4m award to explore how aging works during midlife

      New MRC funding will allow the study, which has followed the lives of 1037 babies born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973, to examine participants at age...

      Woman digital scan AI iStock-1164014959

      Colleagues recognised in King's Birthday Honours 2023

      King's colleagues and alumni have been recognised in the King's 2023 Birthday Honours List, for their extraordinary contributions and service.

      King's Birthday Honours

      IoPPN scientists awarded in first King's Birthday Honours

      Professor Louise Howard and Professor Terrie Moffitt have been awarded an OBE and MBE respectively in the first King’s Birthday Honours 2023. Professor Howard...

      Louise Howard & Terrie Moffitt

      Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study Receives £2.3m Funding

      The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study has been backed by £2.3 million funding from the UKRI Medical Research Council to collect new...

      E-Risk-Study-logo

      Lonely teenagers at greater risk of poor educational outcomes

      Research from King’s College London finds that loneliness experienced at age 12 increases the risk of finishing school with poor grades, as well as poor...

      ECSTeenboyReadingimg

      Professor Terrie Moffitt receives 2022 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology

      The prestigious award from the University of Louisville was presented to Professor Moffitt for her research on juvenile crime.

      Moffitt 780x440

      Childhood Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Poor Mental Health at Age 18

      A 25-year study of young adults living in the United Kingdom has found higher rates of mental illness symptoms among those exposed to greater levels of...

      Young boy wearing a face covering next to a busy road

      New research investigates how early-life mental health difficulties may lead to poor physical health and accelerated ageing in adulthood

      Researchers from King’s College London and Duke University find that mental health problems in early life may be associated with poorer physical health and...

      Middle aged man looking out a window looking depressed

      Events

      17MayARK-dementia

      Biological Ageing and Healthy Longevity

      Biological Ageing and Healthy Longevity

      Please note: this event has passed.