Alonzo T. Folger, PhD, MS

Biography & Affiliation Education Publications

Director of Evaluation and Epidemiologic Research, Every Child Succeeds

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Biography & Affiliation

Biography

Dr. Folger conducts independent and collaborative research in a cohort of mother-child pairs enrolled in the Every Child Succeeds home visiting program. He also serves as the director of evaluation and epidemiology for the Every Child Succeeds program that is based at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. His research has included quasi-experimental studies to estimate the effectiveness of home visiting as a strategy to improve early recognition and treatment of developmental delays, to reduce pediatric unintentional injury, and to increase utilization of pediatric primary care. He conducts epidemiologic research to elucidate the intergenerational effects of interpersonal trauma and adversity on child development and behavior; this includes the identification of mediating causal pathways. More recently, his research has included investigating the mediating role epigenetic mechanisms (namely, DNA methylation) in differential child development outcomes. He is conducting a study to investigate the relationship between maternal adversity (e.g., psychological distress), epigenome-wide DNA methylation, and early childhood behavior. His methodologic interests include quasi-experimental approaches, latent class analysis, multi-level models and processing/analyses of methylation data.

Clinical Interests

Prevention programs; trauma; child development

Research Interests

Quasi-experimental evaluation of early childhood home visiting; data linkage; intergenerational effects of psychological trauma; epigenetics (DNA methylation)

Academic Affiliation

Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

Departments

Biostatistics, Child Abuse Prevention

Education

PhD: Epidemiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2012.

MS: Epidemiology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 2006.

BS: Health Science, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 2002.

Publications

Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences and Pediatric Healthcare Use by 2 Years of Age. Eismann, EA; Folger, AT; Stephenson, NB; Brownrigg, ME; Shapiro, RA; Macaluso, M; Gillespie, RJ. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2019; 211:146-151.

Intergenerational effects of maternal early life adversity on infant DNA methylation of NR3C1. Bowers, K; Ji, H; Ding, L; Ammerman, R; Van Ginkel, J; Yolton, K; Folger, AT. Annals of Epidemiology. 2019; 28:656-656.

Development of a State-Wide Database of Early Intervention and Educational Outcomes for Children who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing. Folger, AT; Wiley, S; Van Horn, A; Grove, W; DeDino, N; Minter-Mohr, M; Sa, T; Meinzen-Derr, J. 2019; 4:28-35.

Feasibility study of the calm baby gently program: An educational baby book intervention on safe practices related to infant crying. Eismann, EA; Pearl, ES; Theuerling, J; Folger, AT; Hutton, JS; Makoroff, K. Child Abuse and Neglect. 2019; 89:135-142.

Neonatal NR3C1 Methylation and Social-Emotional Development at 6 and 18 Months of Age. Folger, AT; Ding, L; Ji, H; Yolton, K; Ammerman, RT; Van Ginkel, JB; Bowers, K. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2019; 13.

Maternal distress and hair cortisol in pregnancy among women with elevated adverse childhood experiences. Bowers, K; Ding, L; Gregory, S; Yolton, K; Ji, H; Meyer, J; Ammerman, RT; Van Ginkel, J; Folger, A. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2018; 95:145-148.

Primary Care and Home Visiting Utilization Patterns among At-Risk Infants. Goyal, NK; Folger, AT; Sucharew, HJ; Brown, CM; Hall, ES; Van Ginkel, JB; Ammerman, RT. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2018; 198:240-246.e2.

Neighborhood Effects on PND Symptom Severity for Women Enrolled in a Home Visiting Program. Jones, DE; Tang, M; Folger, A; Ammerman, RT; Hossain, MM; Short, J; Van Ginkel, JB. Community Mental Health Journal. 2018; 54:420-428.

Participation in Home Visitation is Associated with Higher Utilization of Early Intervention. Bowers, K; Folger, AT; Zhang, N; Sa, T; Ehrhardt, J; Meinzen-Derr, J; Goyal, NK; Van Ginkel, JB; Ammerman, RT. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 2018; 22:494-500.

Parental Adverse Childhood Experiences and Offspring Development at 2 Years of Age. Folger, AT; Eismann, EA; Stephenson, NB; Shapiro, RA; Macaluso, M; Brownrigg, ME; Gillespie, RJ. Pediatrics. 2018; 141:e20172826-e20172826.