Dr. Froehlich is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician who cares for school age children with learning and behavioral issues.  Her research has a special focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and approaches the disorder from the vantage points of epidemiology, etiology, and treatment.  She conducted a study reporting the national prevalence of ADHD in U.S. children based on DSM-IV criteria (published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine) which showed that children from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds were most likely to meet criteria for ADHD, yet least likely to receive consistent ADHD pharmacotherapy.  Interested in understanding why certain children (including those with low socioeconomic status) may be more vulnerable to ADHD than others, she also studies the contribution of environmental exposures to ADHD and their public health impact.   In Pediatrics, she published the first study to investigate the interactive effects of prenatal tobacco exposure and childhood lead exposure on ADHD and demonstrated that the association between poverty and ADHD is partially explained by the effects of these common environmental toxicants.  She has also examined possible gene-environment interactions and found that boys with specific dopamine-related genetic variants were particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of lead exposure on ADHD-related executive functioning (published in Biological Psychiatry). Dr. Froehlich continues to research environmental influences on ADHD as a co-investigator on a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences R01 grant which is examining the effects of pyrethroid pesticide exposure on ADHD symptoms and executive functioning.     

Dr. Froehlich’s research agenda also addresses ADHD treatment.  She is the recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health K23 Award aimed at identifying genetic and phenotypic predictors of ADHD medication response.  Recently, she authored a paper in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry showing that individuals with the dopamine receptor D4 and dopamine transporter genotypes believed to confer lower susceptibility to ADHD had greater improvement in their hyperactive-impulsive symptoms with methylphenidate treatment than those with the “high risk” genetic variants.  She also coauthored a study on a novel genotyping assay for carboxylesterase 1 (CES1), the enzyme which metabolizes methylphenidate, and is currently undertaking a study on CES1 genetic variants’ effects on methylphenidate response. 

Dr. Froehlich also enhances care for children with ADHD through teaching and other professional activities.  She has served as an invited speaker providing seminars for professionals and workshops for families in international, national, and regional forums.  Currently, Dr. Froehlich co-chairs the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics ADHD Special Interest Group, and coordinates ADHD-related projects and educational seminars for the Society membership in this capacity.