Damien Fair, PhD

Damien Fair is a Cognitive Neuroscientist and Professor in the Institute of Child Development and the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Redleaf Endowed Director of the Masonic Institute of the Developing Brain.

Combining technical advances in functional MRI, advanced mathematics, and expertise in psychology and neuroscience, Fair has demonstrated several basic principles of brain development and its relationships to typical and atypical behaviors. As PI and co-leader of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study and the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, two of the largest brain-development studies in history, he directs transformative national efforts that define typical and atypical neurodevelopmental from the prenatal period through young adulthood. He has advanced reproducibility, open science, education and health accessibility by leading major NIH, DoD, and SFN efforts around big data, telehealth, tele-education, military/rural mental health care, and science communication.

In 2012, he was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers Issued by President Barack Obama and the White House. In 2020 he was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow. He recently served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and Council for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He also serves on the Scientific Research Council for the Child Mind Institute and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Fair is deeply committed to public service, community engagement, and STEM education. He founded and directed the Youth Engaged in Science (YES!) initiative and the OHSU Fellowship for Diversity and Inclusion. He’s also served on the Society for Neuroscience Program Committee, Chaired Public Education and Communication Committee, Press Committee, Workforce and Training Groups, and maintained a position on the BrainFacts.org editorial board. He is also a past President of the Flux Society. He has delivered briefings to the Congressional Neuroscience Caucus and the American Brain Coalition on the intersection of brain development and public policy. His work is driven by an integrative, equity-focused vision aimed at advancing the intersection of cognitive psychology and neuroscience while expanding access, opportunity, and impact across science and society.