An expert in early parent-child relationships has joined the faculty of the WSU School of Social Work and WSU’s Department of Clinical and Translational Science, bringing with her a wealth of experience in parenting and developmental psychology within populations exposed to violence and poverty.

In August, Carolyn Joy Dayton began a joint appointment as assistant professor in both the School of Social Work and WSU’s Department of Clinical and Translational Science, with support from the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute. Dayton completed her postdoctoral clinical fellowship at the University of Michigan Institute for Human Adjustment, where she provided psychosocial intervention services to adults, children and families. She subsequently pursued a postdoctoral research fellowship in the University of Michigan’s Department of Psychology, where she conducted research on an NIH-funded project examining the transition to siblinghood in families expecting their second child. Most recently, Dayton was appointed as a postdoctoral translational science fellow within the University of Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR), where she conducted work in the Department of Psychiatry examining the neurobiology of parenting in mothers exposed to psychosocial trauma using functional magnetic resonance imaging methodology.

“I am very excited to be joining the vibrant academic community here at Wayne State University,” Dayton said. “I look forward to collaborating with students, faculty and staff as I pursue my program of research examining risk and protective factors in parents and their young children who are struggling to overcome adversity within their families and communities.”

Dayton describes her program of research as “fundamentally translational and transdisciplinary. It is informed by clinical work with high-risk families, and aims to identify biological and psychosocial targets of intervention that will prevent or effectively treat early signs of psychopathology in young children.”

Her clinical intervention experiences include work with overburdened families in a wide range of settings, including home-based, center-based and hospital programs.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research university offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 29,000 students.