Tyler McFayden, PhD is an NICHD T32 Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, where her research focuses on how social communication develops in the absence of spoken language. Dr. McFayden received her PhD in Clinical & Developmental Psychology from Virginia Tech, after having completed her undergraduate studies at Davidson College. Having engaged in numerous service and leadership roles, including as a Leadership and Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (LEND) Fellow, a Project SHORT Graduate Student Mentor, and a PCSAS Student Representative at Virginia Tech, she is now an active ad hoc peer-reviewer and conference submission reviewer. In addition to having delivered dozens of conference presentations across the country, Dr. McFayden has published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Molecular Psychiatry, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.