Dr. Fisher is Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Psychology. His research focuses on developing and evaluating early childhood interventions in socially and economically marginalized communities, and on translating scientific knowledge regarding healthy development under conditions of adversity for use in social policy and programs. His lab is currently focusing primarily on studies involving the FIND video coaching intervention that he developed with colleagues. Dr. Fisher is particularly interested in the effects of early stressful experiences on children's neurobiological and psychological development, and in prevention and treatment programs for improving maltreated children's functioning in areas such as attachment to caregivers, relationships with peers, and functioning in school. He is also interested in the brain's plasticity in the context of therapeutic interventions. Dr. Fisher is the director of the UO Center for Translational Neuroscience. His laboratory, the Stress Neurobiology and Prevention (SNAP) lab, includes graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and other researchers with similar interests. Dr. Fisher also directs the Translational Science Initiative and is the Science Director for the National Forum on Early Childhood Policy and Programs, both based at Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child. He is Co-Principal Investigator, with Patti Chamberlain, on the NIDA-funded Translational Drug Abuse Prevention (TDAP) Center, working to increase understanding of the effects of early adversity and risk in decision-making and behavior on policy and practice in child welfare systems.  Dr. Fisher is the recipient of the 2012 Society for Prevention Research Translational Science Award.  He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1993.

Dr. Fisher is no longer accepting new graduate students.

Selected recent publications (* Denotes graduate student/postdoc first-authored publications):

Schindler, H.A., Fisher, P.A., Shonkoff, J.P. (in press). From innovation to impact at scale: Lessons learned from a cluster of research-community partnerships. Child Development. NIHMSID855550

*Flannery, J.E., Beauchamp, K.G., & Fisher, P.A. (2017). The role of social buffering on chronic disruptions in quality of care: Evidence from caregiver-based interventions for foster children. Social Neuroscience, 12, 86-91. NIHMSID846798

Fisher, P.A. (2016). Translational neuroscience as a tool for intervention development in the context of high-adversity families. New directions for child and adolescent development, 153, 111-125. NIHMSID851327

Fisher, P.A., Frenkel, T.I., Noll, L.K., Berry, M., & Yockelson, M. (2016). Promoting healthy child development via a two-generation translational neuroscience framework: The Filming Interactions to Nurture Development video coaching program. Child Development Perspectives, 4, 251-256. NIHMSID846643

Fisher, P.A., Level, L.D., Delker, B., Roos, L., Cooper, B. (2016). A developmental psychopathology perspective on foster care research. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Developmental Psychopathology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Advance online publication. D0I 10. 1002/9781119125556.devpsy312

*Graham, A.M., Pfeifer, J.H., Fisher, P.A., Carpenter, S., and Fair, D.A. (2016). Early Life stress is associated with default system integrity and emotionality during infancy. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56(11), 1212-1222. PMC4580514

*Jankowski, K.F., Bruce, J., Beauchamp, K.G., Roos, L.E., Moore, W.E. III, & Fisher, P.A. (2016). Preliminary evidence of the impact of early childhood maltreatment and a preventive intervention on neural patterns of response inhibition in early adolescence. Developmental Science. Advance online publication. PMC5055407

*Roos, L.E., Fisher, P.A., Shaw, D.S., Kim, H.K., Neiderhiser, J.M., et al. (2016). Inherited and environmental influences on a childhood co-occuring symptom phenotype: Evidence from an adoption study. Developmental Psychopathology, 28(1), 111-125. PMC4598247

*Delker, B.C., Hyoun, K.K., Fisher, P.A. (2015). Maternal problem drinking in the year prior to a child's birth among women at risk for child maltreatment: The role of maternal abuse history. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 75, 973-981. (PubMed Central - in progress)

Lynch, F.L., Dickerson, J.F., Saldana, L., & Fisher, P.A. (2014). Incremental net benefit of early intervention for preschool-aged children with emotional and behavioral problems in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 36, 213-219. (PubMed Central - in progress)

*Roos, L.E., Pears, K., Bruce, J., Kim, H., Fisher, P. (2014). Impulsivity and the association between the feedback-related negativity and performance on an inhibitory control task in young at-risk children. Psychophysiology. (PubMed Central - in progress)

*Graham, A.M., Fisher, P.A., Pfeifer, J.H. (2013). What Sleeping Babies Hear: An fMRI Study of Interparental Conflict and Infants' Emotion Processing. Psychological Science, 24, 782-789. PMC3674876

Shonkoff, J.P., & Fisher, P.A. (2013). Rethinking evidence-based practice and two-generation programs to create the future of early childhood policy. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1635-1653. (PubMed Central - in progress)

*Bryck, R.L., & Fisher, P.A. (2012). Training the brain: Practical applications of neural plasticity from the intersection of neuroscience, developmental psychology, and prevention science. American Psychologist, 67, 87-100. PMC3335430

Fisher, P. A., Gunnar, M.R., Dozier, M., Bruce, J., & Pears, K.C. (2006). Effects of a therapeutic intervention for foster children on behavior problems, caregiver attachment, and stress regulatory neural systems. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094, 215-225.

Gunnar, M. R., Fisher, P. A., & The Early Experience, Stress, and Prevention Science Network. (2006). Bringing basic research on early experience and stress neurobiology to bear on preventive intervention research on neglected and maltreated children. Development and Psychopathology, 18, 651-677.