Brett Kia-Keating, EdD received both his doctorate in Human Development and Psychology and his Master’s degree in Developmental Research Methodology from Harvard University. Prior to earning his doctorate, Dr. Kia-Keating earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University and worked in clinical settings such as inpatient and outpatient hospital psychiatric units, a community counseling center, and a maximum security detention facility for violent juvenile offenders. Dr. Kia-Keating’s postdoctoral training was completed in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, where he focused on understanding genetic and environmental contributors to mental health.

Dr. Kia-Keating’s dissertation drew from a large, longitudinal study of urban youth to predict the developmental course of violent behavior, taking into consideration the multiple and interacting levels of a child’s social ecology. His teaching and research interests focus on elucidating the course of both healthy and maladaptive development through longitudinal research designs that identify risk and protective factors, and mediators and moderators at different socio-ecological levels.

Prior to joining Antioch University Santa Barbara, Dr. Brett Kia-Keating taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara and National University. He has also been a Child Intervention, Prevention, and Services Fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health and a Training Fellow of the joint National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control Institute on System Science and Health.