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High Res

Kimberly Yolton, PhD

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Phone: 513-636-2815

Email: kimberly.yolton@cchmc.org

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Specialties

Infant and child development and behavior
Environmental exposures

Biography

Kimberly Yolton, PhD, was formerly the director of a follow-up clinic serving high-risk infants and young children. She has extensive experience with infants and children who were prenatally exposed to substances of abuse, were born prematurely or at low birth weight, or who come from disadvantaged home environments. She was involved in the initial development of the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS), a neurobehavioral assessment tool used with healthy and high-risk newborns. She is certified to train others in the proper administration, scoring, and interpretation of the NNNS and has used the tool for clinical, research, and teaching purposes locally, nationally, and internationally. She is currently using the NNNS to study subtle differences in the neurobehavior of newborns who have been prenatally exposed to environmental toxicants such as tobacco smoke, plastics (phthalates and bisphenol A), insecticides, and mercury.

Dr. Yolton has completed research showing associations between exposure to second hand smoke and cognitive deficits, behavior problems, and sleep difficulties in children. She has also demonstrated associations between prenatal tobacco smoke and plastics and early infant neurobehavior. She is continuing her study of the effects of tobacco smoke and industrial chemicals like plastics and insecticides on infant and child development and behavior. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI).

Dr. Yolton came to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center as a postdoctoral fellow in Pediatric Environmental Health in 2000 and joined the faculty in 2003. She earned her master's degree in family and child development from Virginia Tech, and her doctoral degree in child development and developmental psychology from The Ohio State University.

Education and Training

PhD: Family Relations & Human Development, Developmental Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1992.

Fellowship: Pediatric Environmental Health, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, 2000-2003.

Publications

View PubMed Publications

Byars K, Yolton K, Rausch J, Lanphear B, Beebe DW. Sleep During Early Development: A Longitudinal Study of the Prevalence, Patterns, and Persistence of Sleep Problems in the First 3 Years of Life. Pediatrics. 2011.

Braun J, Kalkbrenner A, Yolton K, Dietrich KN, Calafat AM , Lanphear BP. Associations between pre and postnatal urinary BPA concentrations and childhood neurobehavior at 3 years of age. Pediatrics. 2011.

Yolton K, Xu Y, Strauss D, Altaye M, Calafat AM, Khoury J. Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A and phthalates and infant neurobehavior. Neurotoxicol Teratol. 2011 Aug 10. Epub ahead of print.

Xu Y, Yolton K, Khoury J. Earliest appropriate time for administering neurobehavioral assessment in newborn infants. Pediatrics. 2011 Jan;127(1):e69-75.

Yolton K, Xu Y, Khoury J, Succop P, Lanphear B, Beebe D, Owens J. Associations between second hand smoke exposure and sleep patterns in children . Pediatrics. 2010;125:e261-e268.

Braun JM, Yolton K, Dietrich KN, Hornung R, Ye X, Calafat AM, Lanphear BP. Prenatal bisphenol A exposure and behavior problems in two year old children . Environmental Health Perspectives. 2009;117:1945-1952.

Yolton K, Khoury J, Xu Y, Succop P, Lanphear B, Bernert J, Lester B. Low-Level Prenatal Exposure to Nicotine and Infant Neurobehavior . Neurotoxicology and Teratology. 2009; 31: 356-363.

Yolton K, Khoury J, Hornung R, Dietrich K, Succop P, Lanphear B. Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure and Child Behaviors. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. 2008;29:456-63.

Dietrich KN, Eskenazi B, Schantz S, Yolton K, Rauh VA, Johnson CB, Alkon A, Canfield RL, Pessah IN, Berman RF. Principles and practices of neurodevelopmental assessment in children: lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 Oct;113(10):1437-46.

Lanphear BP, Hornung R, Khoury J, Yolton K, Baghurst P, Bellinger DC, Canfield RL, Dietrich KN, Bornschein R, Greene T, Rothenberg SJ, Needleman HL, Schnaas L, Wasserman G, Graziano J, Roberts R. Low-level environmental lead exposure and children's intellectual function: an international pooled analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2005 Jul;113(7):894-9.

Grants

A Community-Based Trial to Prevent Lead Poisoning and Residential Injuries. Co-Investigator. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Apr 2007 - Mar 2012.

Building Capacity for Studies of Methylmercury Exposures in Mexico. Consultant. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Jun 2010 - May 2012.

Neurobehavioral Effects of Insecticide Exposure in Pregnancy and Early Childhood. Principal Investigator. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Sep 2009 - Jun 2012.

Translational Studies on the Role of Developmental Pyrethroid Exposure ADHD. Principal Investigator of subcontract. National Institutes of Health. Jul 2010 - Jun 2012.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Cooperative Multi-Center Neonatal Research Network. Principal Investigator of Follow-Up Studies. National Institutes of Health. Apr 2006 - Mar 2016.

Longitudinal Study of Exposure to PBDEs and PFCs and Child Neurobehavior. Co-Principal Investigator. National Institutes of Health. Aug 2011 - Apr 2016.