Tara Perrot

Tara Perrot is a part-time Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Science. Her research focuses on stress resilience, early life programming of stress responses, and the gut-brain axis's role in health outcomes. She holds a BSc and PhD from Western University, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Dr. Perrot investigates how early-life experiences (e.g., prenatal stress, postnatal environments) shape lifelong stress responses, with a particular interest in sex differences and the impact of adversity like poverty. Her work spans animal models and human studies, emphasizing translational insights into health and disease prevention.

Her recent publications (2016–2020) explore topics such as probiotic effects on stress, paternal diet influences, and HPA-axis dysregulation. She advocates for rigorous methodology in probiotic research and examines links between perfectionism and stress physiology.

No formal awards are listed, but her research aligns with grants focused on developmental neuroscience and psychobiology. She collaborates across disciplines, including microbiology and clinical psychology, to address complex health challenges rooted in early-life programming.