Gaab Named Professor of Education

Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Dean Nonie Lesaux announced that Nadine Gaab has been promoted to the rank of professor of education, with tenure, effective January 1, 2026.

A leading developmental cognitive neuroscientist and researcher, Gaab first came to Harvard as an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in 2007. In 2021, she joined the HGSE faculty as an associate professor with courses related to neuroscience and education, and focusing on how educators can best understand and serve children with learning and developmental differences.

“My promotion to professor of education is an incredibly meaningful milestone in my life and career. Reflecting on this journey, I am especially aware of its significance given that I was the first in my family to even finish high school,” said Gaab. “To now reach this point is both humbling and deeply fulfilling.”

The Gaab Lab, which Gaab founded at Boston Children's Hospital in 2007 and brought to HGSE, carries out a vast research agenda that lives at the intersection of developmental psychology, learning sciences, and neuroscience, focusing on typical and atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence with a special emphasis on language, reading, and literacy development.

“As a trained psychologist and neuroscientist, I have sometimes felt like a bit of a unicorn within a school of education, but I love this intellectual environment,” said Gaab,” calling it a “transformative” place that’s allowed her research and teaching to grow.

“In many ways, my promotion is a testament to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, and especially to the unique culture at HGSE that values diverse perspectives and approaches,” said Gaab. “This recognition is not only an honor for me personally, but also a tribute to the collaborative and inclusive spirit of our community.”

Before her arrival in Cambridge, Gaab earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Trier in Germany in 2001 and her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from the University of Zurich. She served as a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford from 2004–05, and at MIT from 2005–07.

“Nadine Gaab’s two decades of work as a developmental cognitive neuroscientist has generated new understandings of atypical learning trajectories that have informed innovative approaches for educators. Her contributions are wide-ranging and far-reaching — from how to study the brains of infants and young children to providing novel insights into the development of dyslexia and the implications for effective policymaking,” said Lesaux. “Nadine’s ambitious research agenda is an exceptional model for the role that neuroscience can play in advancing education and student outcomes. The Ed School and the field of education are far better because of the Gaab Lab.”

Gaab has been honored with a number of awards for her work, including the 2024 IMBES Translation Award from the International Society of Mind, Brain, and Education, which recognizes senior scholars making significant progress strengthening the links between research and practice in those fields. In 2020, Gaab was honored with the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture by the International Dyslexia Association, which also awarded her the Alice Garside Award in 2017. In 2023, she received the Academic Research Recognition Award from the World Literacy Foundation, and was awarded the LDA Award (Learning Disabilities Association America) in 2019. Gaab is also the co-founder of EarlyBird Education, a gamified platform system for identifying children at risk for language-based learning disabilities.

Gaab reflected on her first visit to HGSE 25 years ago as a visiting graduate student and how that relationship has grown in the years since. She said she was “profoundly grateful” for the support of her colleagues and students and the work of those at the Gaab Lab, along with the love and support of her family.

Gaab noted she’s particularly proud of the work the Gaab Lab has accomplished, especially in raising awareness and understanding of learning disabilities.

“I hope our efforts have helped advance important conversations about how we can better support students with disabilities, particularly those with learning disabilities, here at Harvard, around the country, and across the globe,” said Gaab. “I am also especially proud of our focus on ‘preventative education,’ which promotes a shift from a reactive to a proactive approach when it comes to identifying and supporting students with learning disabilities early on.”