Decoding Mental Health Center
Meet the Team

Meet the Experts

Our international team of experts represent the continuum of knowledge, and includes more than 25 leading scientists from across Cincinnati Children’s as well as collaborators from the University of Cincinnati, the University of Colorado, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Core Team

Robert T. Ammerman, PhD, ABPP

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email robert.ammerman@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Early childhood prevention programs and interventions to optimize the development of young children; enhancements of home visiting programs that...

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Cole Brokamp, PhD

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email cole.brokamp@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Understanding the heterogeneous effects of environmental exposures and community characteristics on pediatric psychiatric health; develops new...

Michael T. Sorter, MD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email michael.sorter@cchmc.org

Jeffrey R. Strawn, MD

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Principal Investigators

Tracy A. Glauser, MD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email tracy.glauser@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Clinical pharmacology; pharmacogenetics; antiepileptic clinical trials

John P. Pestian, PhD, MBA

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email john.pestian@cchmc.org

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Subject Matter Experts

Bruce J. Aronow, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email bruce.aronow@cchmc.org

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Drew H. Barzman, MD

Professor

Research Interests

Child and adolescent forensic psychiatry; prevention of violence in youth; neuroimaging in children and adolescents; genetics; pediatric clinical...

Sarah J. Beal, PhD

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email sarah.beal@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Developmental psychology; general pediatrics research fellowship

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Andrew F. Beck, MD, MPH

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email andrew.beck1@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Social determinants of health; disparities; population health; quality improvement; geography

Lee Ann E. Conard, RPh, DO, MPH

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email leeann.conard@cchmc.org

Kevin R. Dufendach, MD, MS

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email kevin.dufendach@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Clinical informatics; user-centered design; human-computer interaction; quality improvement; novel software development

Craig A. Erickson, MD

Associate Professor

Research Interests

Fragile X syndrome; autism spectrum disorders; neurodevelopmental disorders; molecular blood markers; quantitative measurement of pathophysiology in...

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Christopher D. King, PhD

Associate Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email christopher.king@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Inflammation; digital health; wearables; pain; sleep; virtual reality

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Jessica M. McClure, PsyD

Staff Psychologist IV, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology

Email jessica.mcclure@cchmc.org

Jareen K. Meinzen-Derr, PhD, MPH, FACE

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email jareen.meinzen-derr@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Deafness; hearing loss; language development; developmental disabilities Visit the More Than Hearing Loss web page.

Tesfaye B. Mersha, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email tesfaye.mersha@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Quantitative and statistical genetics and genomics; genetic linkage, association and admixture analysis; expression analysis; network and pathway...

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Monica Mitchell, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email monica.mitchell@cchmc.org

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Avani C. Modi, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email avani.modi@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Treatment adherence; health-related quality of life; patient-reported outcomes; executive functioning, adherence barriers, randomized controlled...

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Ernest Pedapati, MD, MS, FAAP

Assistant Professor, N/A

Research Interests

Transcranial magnetic stimulation; transcranial direct current stimulation; TMS; TDCS; EEG; autism; fragile x; eye tracking; electrophysiology.

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Scott W. Powers, PhD, ABPP, FAHS

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email emily.conner@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Clinical trials; migraine/headache; pediatric pain; adherence medicine; nutrition and behavior; cystic fibrosis

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Mayur Sarangdhar, PhD

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email mayur.sarangdhar@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Systems pharmacology; developmental pharmacology; cardio-oncology; drug-induced toxicities; drug repositioning

Robert A. Shapiro, MD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email bob.shapiro@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Child abuse diagnostics

S. Andrew Spooner, MD, MS, FAAP

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email andrew.spooner@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Learn more about the Decision Support Analytics Workgroup.

Rhonda D. Szczesniak, PhD

Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Email rhonda.szczesniak@cchmc.org

Research Interests

Functional data analysis; longitudinal data analysis; medical monitoring; prediction

Strategic Partners

In addition to our faculty investigators, core team members include Cincinnati Children's biostatisticians and project managers, as well as scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Colorado.