Charles A. Nelson, III

Charles A. Nelson, III, PhD is Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Education in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He holds the Richard David Scott Chair in Pediatric Developmental Medicine Research at Boston Children's Hospital and serves as Director of Research in the Division of Developmental Medicine. His research spans developmental cognitive neuroscience with a focus on brain-behavior relations across early development.

Nelson's research interests center on developmental cognitive neuroscience, particularly the effects of early experience on brain and behavioral development. His work investigates memory development, face recognition, trajectories to autism, and the impact of early adversity on neurodevelopment. He employs multiple neuroimaging tools including EEG, fNIRS, and MRI coupled with behavioral measures like eye tracking. His lab conducts research across diverse populations including typically developing children, those at risk for autism, and children experiencing early psychosocial deprivation.

Nelson's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on EEG biomarkers for early detection of neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism. His work spans global contexts including studies in Romania (Bucharest Early Intervention Project), Bangladesh (poverty effects), and the United States. His research increasingly integrates genetic, imaging, and behavioral data to understand developmental trajectories and identify early biomarkers for intervention.

• Leon Eisenberg award from Harvard Medical School
• Honorary Doctorate from Bucharest University (Romania)
• Resident fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio (Italy) Center
• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Elected to the National Academy of Medicine
• Elected to the British Academy
• Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research
• Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize (2021)

Nelson chairs the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children's Hospital, where he mentors numerous postdoctoral fellows and leads multiple large-scale research projects. His lab currently focuses on autism trajectories, early adversity effects, and neural bases of face recognition. He has directed major longitudinal studies including the Bucharest Early Intervention Project, a long-running investigation of institutionalized children in Romania. His current work includes the healthy Brain and Child Development study (hBCD), a 70+ investigator study of brain development from prenatal through age 10.