Episode 1.8: Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress

Interviewer: MARTHA FARAH. Combining the perspectives of neuroscience and sociology, brothers BRUCE MCEWEN (head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University) and CRAIG MCEWEN (Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Bowdoin College) explore the feedback loops between social inequalities and biological responses to chronic stress, which create potentially life-long consequences for health and life trajectories. In their discussion with Martha Farah (Director of the Center for Neuroscience & Society at Penn), the brothers describe how they chose to collaborate with each other late in their respective careers – and how their work has given them hope that interventions at all stages of life can either prevent or help repair the damage of early childhood adversity. Note: Sadly, Bruce McEwen passed away on January 3, 2020, due to complications from a stroke. His collaboration with his brother was one of the many accomplishments of his long career.