Professor Clancy Blair, MPH, PhD (pictured) passed away on Thursday, December 19, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Groundbreaking Research
Dr. Blair’s innovative research focused on children’s development of self-regulation and executive functions. Through both complex multivariate observational and RCT approaches, Dr. Blair demonstrated that executive functions are substantially influenced by experience and are important for children’s school readiness and school achievement. Dr. Blair contributed greatly to our understanding of ways in which experience ‘gets under the skin’ to influence the development of self-regulation and executive functions through effects on stress physiology.
Dr. Blair received his B.A. in History from McGill University in 1984, an M.A. in Developmental Psychology, an M.P.H. in Maternal and Child Health, and a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in 1993 and 1996 respectively. He served first as an assistant and associate professor at Penn State University for 10 years, then as a professor at New York University’s (NYU) Department of Applied Psychology and at NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health until 2022. Together with his collaborator and spouse Professor C. Cybele Raver, Dr. Blair co-founded NYU’s Neuroscience and Education Lab, underscoring the value of science in supporting children and families facing poverty.
An Inspiration for Many
Clancy inspired many emerging scientists through his collaborative, enthusiastically supportive mentorship. Of his many accomplishments, he was perhaps most proud of having trained young colleagues including Annie Aitkin, Daniel Berry, Stephen Braren, Paula Danieri, Meriah DeJoseph, Eric Finegood, Leah Hibel, Seulki Ku, Elizabeth Miller, Rachel Razza, Andrew Ribner, Michael Sulik, Alexandra Urshache, Sarah Vogel, Denise Werchan and many others.
Read More: Dr. Blair's obituary is available here.