Stacey N. Doan, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology · Director, Berger Institute · Claremont McKenna College

How We Thrive

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Stacey N. Doan

About

Stacey N. Doan is a developmental psychobiologist who studies how people build lives that work. Her research traces the pathways between early experience, stress physiology, and long-term health. Her research is focused on understanding how relationships, culture, and context promote wellbeing and positive adaptation in the face of stressors.

She is the Norwood and Frances Berger Professor of Psychology, Business and Society at Claremont McKenna College and directs the Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development , where her lab, the Applied Mind and Health Lab, investigates resilience, emotion, and physiological adaptation across development. Her book Nature Meets Nurture: Science-Based Strategies for Raising Resilient Kids was published by the American Psychological Association in 2022.

When she's not in the lab, she's running marathons, reading widely, finding good food, and raising two humans of her own.

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Book

Nature Meets Nurture

Nature Meets Nurture

Science-Based Strategies for Raising Resilient Kids · American Psychological Association, 2022

What does the science actually say about raising resilient kids? Nature Meets Nurture cuts through the noise of parenting advice to offer something rarer: evidence-based strategies grounded in developmental science and stress physiology. Written for parents, caregivers, and anyone who shapes a child's world, the book shows how biology and experience work together — and how small, specific shifts in everyday interactions can build lasting resilience.

"a great and easy read but it also offers very insightful advice and help on parenting. After reading just the first chapter, "Parenting, Stress, and the Shaping of Children's Biology" I was sucked in by how informational the book was and it helped give me an idea of how I would want to parent and raise my kids. Also, the information in this book is widely supported by scientific facts, and the advice it offers seems much more credible than some of the information that you might come across as you browse the web or on social media sites" — [Shane, Parent]
"Nature meets Nurture met me at exactly the right moment. As a parent who thinks about about how my presence, my emotions, and even my imperfections shape my kids this book felt grounding...the book didn't just teach me something, it shifted how I see my role as a parent and I am grateful for that" — [Janice, Mother]
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Research

The Applied Mind & Health Lab

Housed at the Berger Institute for Individual and Social Development at Claremont McKenna College, the Applied Mind and Health Lab investigates how stress, emotion, and relationships shape development and health across the lifespan. We study resilience not as an abstract trait but as a process — one that unfolds in specific bodies, specific relationships, and specific cultural contexts.

The lab trains students in a highly-collaborative and intellectually sophisticated environment. For open positions please contact us.

Selected Work

Cortisol and C-reactive protein interact to predict depressive symptoms

Doan, S.N., Hoell, D.J., & Fuller-Rowell, T.E. (in press)

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Chronic physiological dysregulation and changes in depressive symptoms: Testing sex and race as vulnerability factors

Doan, S.N., Aringer, A., Vicman, J., & Fuller-Rowell, T. (2025)

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 12(6), 3917–3924

Resilience and family socialization processes in ethnic minority youth: Illuminating the Achievement-Health Paradox

Doan, S.N., Yu, S.H., Wright, B., Fung, J., Saleem, F.T., & Lau, A.S. (2022)

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 25(1), 75–92

Allostatic load: Developmental and conceptual considerations in a multi-system physiological indicator of chronic stress exposure

Doan, S.N. (2021)

Developmental Psychobiology, 63(5), 825–836

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Speaking

Talks & Appearances

Stacey speaks on the science of resilience, stress, and human adaptation — what it actually costs to thrive under pressure, and what families, organizations, and communities can do about it. Her talks draw on two decades of research and translate developmental science into ideas audiences can use. She is available for keynotes, panels, corporate events, and media interviews. Sample talks below.

For speaking inquiries, please contact [email protected].

Contact

Stacey N. Doan

Department of Psychological Science

Claremont McKenna College

850 Columbia Ave, Claremont, CA 91711


[email protected]