Diana Fishbein, Ph.D

Dr. Fishbein is Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and the Director of the Program of Translational Research on Adversity and Neurodevelopment. She is also an Adjunct Professor at University of Maryland School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University and University of California, Irvine. She is also a faculty subcontractor at Georgetown University, and a Guest Researcher at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program. She has written and edited several books and about a hundred journal articles, including two special journal editions.

Research Program

Studies conducted by Dr. Fishbein utilize transdisciplinary methods and a developmental approach to understanding interactions between neurobiological processes and environmental factors. Her program of research includes children, adolescents and adults to focus on 3 interrelated themes:

• (i) identifying underlying neurobiological predictors and mediators of intervention outcomes, in interaction with contextual and environmental conditions
• (ii) isolating consequences from precursors of drug and alcohol initiation and escalation
• (iii) assessing influences of environmental and psychosocial factors on neurodevelopment and functioning that affect risk for behavioral disorders and, in turn, intervention responsivity

Seeking Concordance between Translational Research & Policy

The ultimate goal of this program of research is to translate scientific findings to practice and policies designed to prevent mental health, emotional and behavioral problems. Her research supports the premise that underlying neurobiological mechanisms interact with the quality of our psychosocial experiences and environmental contexts to alter trajectories either towards or away from risk behaviors. Studies include those that are prospective and longitudinal, experimental, and clinical trial oriented, and she uses a variety of methodologies including MRI, psychophysiological monitoring, neurocognitive and emotion regulatory task batteries, biochemical assays, and psychological, behavioral, experiential, and contextual assessments.

Translating Neuroscience Discovery into Life-Saving Interventions

Dr. Fishbein's studies have found that deficits in certain neurobiological functions compromise responses to both preventive and treatment interventions. Given that neural dysfunction underlying behavioral disorders is at least in part malleable, her work suggests that compensatory mechanisms can be strengthened with the appropriate psychosocial and environmental manipulations. She believes there is a critical need to understand the malleable processes that underlie variability in responding to evidence-based interventions to (a) refine intervention approaches; (b) determine when adjunctive treatments are needed; and (c) implement public health policies to reduce exposure to conditions that undermine the ability of children to reach developmental milestones.

Given the inherent translational nature of this research, she founded and directs the National Prevention Science Coalition for Improving Lives, a national organization dedicated to the transfer of knowledge from the basic to the applied sciences as well as practical settings and public health policies. This organization has been instrumental in educating the public and disseminating findings from prevention science with an eye toward increasing impact of the research for individuals, families, and communities. And she wrote the Etiology Section of the International Standards for Drug Abuse Prevention for the United Nations and developed a training curriculum for policy-makers worldwide.

Google Scholar Faculty Profile