Oshri receives UGA Creative Research Medal

Assaf Oshri, associate professor in the department of human development and family science, has received a UGA Creative Research Medal, for his work researching the biopsychosocial mechanisms of resilience and risky behavior in children exposed to adversity. 

With more than 100 peer-reviewed articles to his credit, Oshri seeks to understand how children and adolescents respond to different rearing environments, the developmental pathways toward and away from addiction and the emergence of resilience in youth.

His research team has collected developmental, psychological, psychophysiological and brain imaging data for a longitudinal cohort study on more than 300 children, youth and their parents.

His work has shown that children’s emotional regulation, their ability to modulate an emotion or set of emotions, is at the core of resilience to adversity.

He has contributed knowledge and insights into the mechanisms of how chronic stressors (child maltreatment, poverty) become biologically embedded in the body’s reactions and make children and adolescents more vulnerable to engaging in risky behaviors that threaten their health and well-being.

The university established the Creative Research Medals in 1980 to recognize a distinct and exceptional research or creative project, performed by a mid-career faculty member, with extraordinary impact and significance to the field of study.