Naomi Friedman

Roles: Faculty Affiliate, Institute of Behavioral Genetics

Biography: Dr. Friedman received a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology in 2002 from the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder. She was then a postdoctoral Fellow (2002-2005) in behavioral genetics at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics (IBG) at CU Boulder, supported by IBG's T32 training grant from the National Institute of Child and Human Development. She continued at IBG as a Research Associate until in 2013 she was hired as an Assistant Professor at IBG and the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. She is now an Associate Professor.

Dr. Friedman is a cognitive psychologist who uses longitudinal and genetically informed methods to understand individual differences in executive functions – the cognitive control processes that help people regulate their thoughts and behaviors –  and how they are related to emotional regulation and psychopathologies such as depression. Her work investigates questions such as how executive functions change across adolescence and early adulthood; what aspects of executive functioning are related to psychopathologies; and to what extent neurocognitive dysfunction may be a risk factor for, and/or consequence of, psychopathology.

Center Work: Dr. Friedman serves as a Faculty Fellow at the Center.