Henning Tiemeier, MD, PhD
Professor of Social and Behavioral Science
Research Roles/Affiliations
Sumner and Esther Feldberg Chair in Maternal and Child Health at HSPH
Director of the Harvard Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health
Lead of the Population Neuroscience group at the Harvard Chan School
Adjunct Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Contact Information
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
677 Huntington Ave., 6th floor, Room 619, Boston, MA 02115
E-mail: Tiemeier@hsph.harvard.edu
Relevant Links
Harvard School of Public Health profile
Research
Tiemeier has worked broadly in psychiatric epidemiology for more than 20 years with a focus on child developmental research. Currently, he leads the Maternal and Child Center of Excellence at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He successfully managed a large research group with more than 20 persons at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam for several years, before being appointed Professor of Social and Behavioral Science at Harvard.
His research line evolved around two large population-based cohorts, the Rotterdam Study, an adult cohort, and Generation R, a pre-birth cohort. He planned, and now still conducts and supervises research in the domains of cognitive, emotional and behavioral development in the Generation R cohort.
His research is mostly aimed at understanding the etiology of common psychiatric problems and characterized by an interest in detailed phenotype assessment, neuroimaging, and genetics combined with modern quantitative and epidemiological methods. His child studies typically take a neurodevelopmental approach and, in particular, his work on prenatal exposures is internationally well-known. The work on intrauterine exposure to maternal hypothyroxinemia and neurodevelopment has influenced research, clinical practice and guidelines. This work documented the importance of a carefully regulated thyroid function of women in early pregnancy.
Tiemeier obtained substantial competitive funding which allowed him to perform home visits, detailed observational developmental assessments, and brain imaging in large groups and combine a developmental approach with a biological approach in a unique way. Under his supervision and, in close collaboration with Tonya White (now NIMH), he largely co-funded and led the data collection of more than 8,000 brain MRIs in children and pre-adolescents. While most of his work was observational, he has conducted randomized trials and was involved in guideline development.
He mentored and supervised students, postgraduates, post docs and assistant professors in diverse stages of their careers. In the Generation R Study, and now at Harvard Chan again, he established a Population Neuroscience group of post doc and PhD student researchers. Most of his work is collaborative, he (co) led several national and international consortia, including CHARGE-depression, CORNET, EAGLE-behaviour group and participated in the PGC depression working group. He is an experienced teacher of social, psychiatric, and general epidemiology at Harvard and internationally. At Harvard Chan he teaches 4 full credit courses, although some bi-annually, per year.
Research Interests
Child development in the general population
Epidemiology
Sleep
Brain development in longitudinal studies
Population Neuroscience
Family context
Grants
Training Grant in Maternal and Child Health
Source: Maternal and Child Health Bureau
The Training Program in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Life Course
Epidemiology
NICHD T32 1T32HD104612
How we shape our children’s brains: From early adversity to adolescent depression
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
SEED: - Social Inequality and its effects on child development:
A study of birth cohorts in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands
EU-NORFACE EraNet: Dynamics of Inequality Across the Life-course
Running in the Family – Understanding and Predicting the Intergenerational Transmission of Mental Health
Horizon 101057529 - GAP-101057529
European Union