Rate My Professor Karen Waldie

Professor Karen Elizabeth Waldie is a full professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland and is affiliated with the Centre for Brain Research. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, she earned her BSc from the University of Victoria. She completed her MSc and PhD in neuropsychology in 1998 at the University of Calgary. Waldie joined the faculty at the University of Auckland in 2001 after serving as a research fellow with the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study at the University of Otago, and she was appointed full professor in 2020.

Her research focuses on the neural, environmental, and genetic bases of neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodivergence, including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia, employing techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging. Key contributions include research on structural brain differences that supported the Ministry of Education’s recognition of dyslexia as a disability in 2007, analysis of paracetamol use during pregnancy and links to childhood depression as part of the Growing Up in New Zealand study, and principal investigator roles on Marsden Fund grants examining environment and childhood mental health as well as ADHD brain behaviour. Waldie delivered her inaugural professorial lecture titled “Genes, brains and neurodiversity” in 2020 and was a finalist for the NEXT Woman of the Year award in 2019. She has contributed to collaborative projects such as The Chronicle of Cognition and maintains an active profile in developmental cognitive neuroscience.