.jpg "Nancy L. Segal, Ph.D photo")
California State University, Fullerton
Fullerton, CA
Dr. Nancy L. Segal received a B.A. degree in psychology and English literature from Boston University (1973), and M.A. (1974) and Ph.D. (1982) degrees in the Social Sciences and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Chicago. From 1982-1991 she was a post-doctoral fellow and research associate at the University of Minnesota, affiliated with the well-known Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart. She is currently Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) and Director of the Twin Studies Center, which she founded in 1991. Dr. Segal is regarded as a world-class expert on twins and twin research, as evidenced by her prolific scientific writing and numerous invitations to address national and international audiences, both professional and public. She was a speaker at the November 4, 2017 TedX event in Manhattan Beach, California. In July 2018 she delivered a plenary lecture, “Twins, Virtual Twins and Other Curious Couples: The Science Behind the Fascination,” to the Human Behavior and Evolution Society in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She delivered a keynote speech at the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, in Florence, Italy in July 2019. In October 2019 she was an invited participant in a debate on parenting organized by Intelligence Squared in New York City.
Dr. Segal has authored over 250 scientific articles and book chapters, as well as six books on twins. One of her recent books, Born Together-Reared Apart: The Landmark Minnesota Twin Study (2012, Harvard University Press) won the 2013 William James Book Award from the American Psychological Association. Other books include Someone Else’s Twin: The True Story of Babies Switched at Birth (2011, Prometheus), Indivisible by Two: Lives of Extraordinary Twins (2007, Harvard University Press) and Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us About Human Behavior (2000, Dutton/Plume). One of her latest books, Twin Mythconceptions (Elsevier, February 2017), describes the false beliefs and “mythconceptions” surrounding the biology and psychology of twins and provides much needed clarification for both scientific professionals and the concerned public. Her sixth book, Accidental Brothers: The Story of Twins Exchanged at Birth and the Power of Nature and Nurture (St. Martin’s Press, April 2018) follows the life histories of two sets of identical Colombian twins who were inadvertently exchanged at birth. This book, recently translated into Spanish, illuminates many complex scientific concepts for readers (e.g., the nature-nurture controversy; twin methodology, epigenetic analysis; gene expression) in the context of a series of thrilling human interest events. Dr. Segal has a seventh book to be released in fall 2021, titled Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart. This book as in-depth portrayal of the 1960s-70 New York City twin study in which separated identical twins were covertly followed from birth to age twelve. She was also senior editor of Uniting Psychology and Biology: Integrative Perspectives on Human Development (APA Press), a volume that originated from a festschrift that she chaired, honoring the late Dr. Daniel G. Freedman at the University of Chicago. Currently, she is under contract with Rowman & Littlefield publishers, working on a book about the twin study behind the documentary films The Twinning Reaction (2017) and Three Identical Strangers (2018).
Dr. Segal is an Associate Editor for the journal Twin Research and Human Genetics, the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies. She was guest editor for the
current issue (August, 2018) on the contributions and legacy of the late esteemed behavioral-genetic investigator, Dr. Irving I. Gottesman. She was associated with Twins Magazine as Contributing Research Editor (1984-1998), member of the editorial advisory board (1985-present) and consultant (1995-1998).
Dr. Segal has received a number of international awards, including the James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research (International Society for Twin Studies) and the International Making a Difference Award (Multiple Births Canada). She was the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Wang Family Excellence Award, for which administrators and trustees cited her “exemplary contributions and achievement;” she was chosen for this honor from among candidates across the twenty-six campus California State University system. Dr. Segal was recognized as CSUF’s Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2005 and as the Distinguished Faculty Member in Humanities and Social Sciences, both in 2007 and 2014.
Dr. Segal has contributed to, and been featured in, national and international print media and television. Dr. Segal’s recent interviews and original essays have appeared in the AP Press, the New York Times, the Atlantic Monthly (“Identical Twins Hint at How Environments Change Gene Expression,” May 2018), the New York Times (“Does Breast Milk Have a Sex Bias?” January 2017; “The Closest of Strangers,” May 2014; “Holding a Mirror to Their Natures,” August, 2014; “The Mixed-Up Brothers of Bogotá, July, 2015 and “The Whites of Our Eyes,” July 2015), and CBS Sunday Morning (Chinese Twins Reared Apart, February 5, 2017). Her appearance on national and international television and radio programs include the Martha Stewart Show, Good Morning America, the Oprah Winfrey Show and The Forum (BBC). Recent and upcoming media appearances include NBC Universal and BBC Berkshire. Dr. Segal has also served as a consultant and expert witness for the media, the law and the arts, and a consultant for Guinness World Records.
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Meet the Author: Deliberately Divided: The Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET