Meet behavioral researcher Shari Wade, PhD
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| Shari Wade, PhD, has developed and tested family-centered interventions to reduce parental stress and improve child behavior and social competence following childhood brain injury. |
Shari Wade, PhD, is a behavioral researcher with the International Adoption Center and Research Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. She grew up in Western Pennsylvania and completed her undergraduate studies at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. At Cornell, Shari developed an interest in the complex interplay between biology and environment in determining human behavior and development.
Shari pursued a doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. While there, clinical practicum experiences fostered an interest in working with children and families which she pursued through a predoctoral internship at Yale University and a postdoctoral fellowship at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland.
It was at Rainbow that Shari began to pursue her research interests in understanding how families cope with challenges such as having a child with a chronic illness or a brain injury. She also became increasingly interested in understanding how aspects of the home environment, for example the family's closeness, were related to the child's recovery and subsequent development, and in developing interventions to facilitate family coping and adaptation.
Since joining the faculty at Cincinnati Children's in 1998, Shari has developed and tested family-centered interventions to reduce parental stress and improve child behavior and social competence following childhood brain injury. These projects, funded by the Department of Education, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Centers for Disease Control, have demonstrated that training in problem-solving, communication, and behavior management skills can successfully reduce parental distress and improve child self-management and behavior. To make these programs more accessible for families, Shari has also pioneered strategies for delivering them over the Internet.
Shari is very excited about translating her research interests to further our understanding of the challenges facing children and families following international adoption. She plans to identify family characteristics that are associated with successful child adaptation following adoption. Armed with this knowledge, she intends to develop programs that will help adoptive families cope effectively with the challenges they might encounter.
Shari balances her work with family life in Oxford, Ohio. She is married and has two active sons ages 5 and 12. Often she finds that the lessons she learns through her research can be applied to her home life as well.
