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Terrie E. Moffitt CV

Nannerl O. Keohane University Distinguished Professor
Psychology & Neuroscience
2020 W Main Street Suite 201, Box 104410, Durham, NC 27708
2020 W Main Street Suite 201, Box 104410, Durham, NC 27708
CV

Overview


Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D., is the Nannerl O. Keohane University Professor of Psychology at Duke University, and Professor of Social Development at King’s College London. Her expertise is in the areas of longitudinal methods, developmental theory, mental disorders and antisocial behaviors, neuropsychology, and genomics in behavioral science. She is currently uncovering 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 co-founded the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study (E-Risk), which follows a 1994 birth cohort in the UK. Dr. Moffitt also is a licensed clinical psychologist, with specialization in neuropsychological assessment. She collaborates with criminologists, economists, geneticists, epidemiologists, sociologists, demographers, gerontologists, statisticians, neuroscientists, medical scientists, opthalmologists, and dentists. Dr. Moffitt is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine and  the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , as well as the British Academy, Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), Academia Europa, Association of Psychological Science, and the American Society of Criminology. She holds honorary doctorates from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, and Universitat Basel, Switzerland. For her research, Dr. Moffitt has received both the American Psychological Association's Early Career Contribution Award and Distinguished Career Award. Dr. 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, the Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize, and in 2022 the Grawemeyer Prize. Her service includes serving as chair of the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Science at NASEM, Chair of the NIA Data Monitoring Committee for the Health and Retirement Study, and Chair of the Jury for the Klaus J. Jacobs Prize in Switzerland. 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 in geriatrics and neuropsychology at the University of California Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute. In her spare time, she works on her poison-ivy farm in North Carolina.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Nannerl O. Keohane University Distinguished Professor · 2013 - Present Psychology & Neuroscience, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience · 2007 - Present Psychology & Neuroscience, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences · 2012 - Present Psychiatry, Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences · 2008 - Present Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, University Institutes and Centers
Faculty Research Scholar of DuPRI's Population Research Center · 2010 - Present Duke Population Research Center, Duke Population Research Institute
Faculty Research Scholar of DuPRI's Center for Population Health & Aging · 2011 - Present Center for Population Health & Aging, Duke Population Research Institute

In the News


Published January 13, 2025
How Fast Are You Aging? A ‘Speedometer’ Tells You
Published September 19, 2024
Mental Health Concerns Are a Huge Part of Primary Care Practice
Published March 14, 2024
Poor Neighborhoods Linked to Elevated Dementia Risk and Faster Brain Aging

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Recent Publications


DunedinPACNI estimates the longitudinal Pace of Aging from a single brain image to track health and disease.

Journal Article Nature aging · July 2025 To understand how aging affects functional decline and increases disease risk, it is necessary to develop measures of how fast a person is aging. Using data from the Dunedin Study, we introduce an accurate and reliable measure for the rate of longitudinal ... Full text Cite

Accelerated Epigenetic Aging and Prospective Morbidity and Mortality Among U.S. Veterans.

Journal Article J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci · June 10, 2025 BACKGROUND: Epigenetic aging measures have promise as surrogate health outcomes in randomized control trials and observational cohort studies. The value of these measures, however, will reflect the extent to which they are associated with prospective healt ... Full text Link to item Cite

Caries Trajectories From Childhood to Adulthood Associated With Mental Disorders in Midlife.

Journal Article Journal of public health dentistry · June 2025 Oral and mental health are integral to overall health and well-being. Primary dentition caries is associated with poorer oral and general health and faster aging by midlife, but it remains unclear whether these associations also hold for mental health. ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Duke-NCCU Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Training Program in Child Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Conditions Program (DN-IPT)

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2024 - 2029

Duke University Program in Environmental Health

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2019 - 2029

Duke University Psychiatry Physician-Scientist Residency Training Program

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institute of Mental Health · 2024 - 2029

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Recent Artistic Works


Predict My Future

Film January 1, 2015

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Education, Training & Certifications


University of Southern California · 1984 Ph.D.
University of Southern California · 1981 M.A.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill · 1977 B.A.