Damien A Fair

Damien A Fair is a Professor at the University of Minnesota with dual appointments in the Institute of Child Development (College of Education and Human Development) and Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience within the Medical School's Department of Pediatrics. He serves as Leader of the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain and is affiliated with the Consortium on Law and Values in Health, Environment, and the Life Sciences.

Dr. Fair's research focuses on functional connectivity neuroscience, particularly using functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain development in children. His work examines how brain networks form and function during development, with special attention to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder. He has pioneered methods for analyzing resting-state functional connectivity and has contributed significantly to understanding typical and atypical brain development patterns.

His recent publications demonstrate a strong emphasis on advanced neuroimaging techniques, developmental neuroscience, and the application of these methods to understand neurodevelopmental disorders. Notable work includes developing robust preprocessing pipelines like XCP-D and NiBabies, and contributing to large-scale studies such as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study and the Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium.

Dr. Fair is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship (2020), often referred to as the 'genius grant,' recognizing his innovative contributions to neuroscience. His work has been widely covered in media outlets, with significant attention following his MacArthur award.

As Principal Investigator, he leads multiple major research initiatives including the Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium Data Coordinating Center and the ABCD-USA Consortium: Data Analysis, Informatics and Resource Center, with substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health and other organizations. His research portfolio spans over 248 publications and 40 research projects and grants.

Dr. Fair directs research teams focused on developing and applying advanced neuroimaging methodologies to understand brain development, with particular emphasis on creating tools that improve the precision and reliability of functional imaging in developmental populations.