Jed Elison

Introduction

Jed Elison, Ph.D., is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development at the Institute of Child Development in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. 

Elison's research interests include the developmental processes and neural mechanisms that support specialized information processing, as well as the putative mechanisms that underlie atypical development. Currently, his research examines the intricate developmental processes that contribute to individual differences in social communication during the infant and toddler period. Understanding how specific patterns of brain development contribute to the emergence of complex cognitive functioning and sophisticated social behavior has the potential to directly inform how scientists approach the question of pathogenesis for various psychiatric conditions. His current goal is to use neuroimaging data (brain-based biomarkers) to predict these individual differences in behaviors that support adaptive social and cognitive functioning.

Additionally, Elison is a co-investigator on the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS), an Autism Center of Excellence network study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and designed to characterize brain and behavioral development in infants at high risk for developing autism.