Dr. Elena Grigorenko received her Ph.D. in general psychology from Moscow State University, Russia, in 1990 and her Ph.D. in developmental psychology and genetics from Yale University, U.S., in 1996. Currently, Dr. Grigorenko is Associate Professor of Child Studies and Psychology at Yale and Associate Professor of Psychology at Moscow State University.

Dr. Grigorenko's primary interest is in understanding the co-contribution of genetic and environmental risk factors to the manifestation of developmental and learning disabilities in children. To realize this interest, she employs a variety of methods including family designs (both behavioral and molecular genetic) and educational intervention designs. To illustrate, she is currently carrying out (1) studies of international adoptees brought to the U.S. early in life to determine whether early language experience and performance in the native tongue is predictive of later performance in English; (2) studies of rates of learning disabilities in harsh developmental environments with high rates of infection, intoxication, and poverty; (3) studies of genetic risk factors for various learning and developmental disorders; and (4) studies of interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors for conduct problems. Dr. Grigorenko has worked with children and their families in the U.S. as well as in Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar, the Gambia, and Zambia), India, and Russia. She is especially interested in studying risk factors for language and mathematics disabilities, autism, and violent criminal behaviors in pre-adolescent children.

Dr. Grigorenko has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books. She has received awards from five different divisions of the American Psychological Association (Divisions of General, Educational, Developmental, and Philosophical Psychology, and Psychology of Arts) as well as The American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in the area of Developmental Psychology. Dr. Grigorenko's research has been funded by a variety of private and federal agencies.