Jennifer Ehrhardt, MD

Dr. Ehrhardt, MD, MPH, has collaborated with faculty within the Division of Emergency Medicine (KJ Phelan, MD, MS), Division of General and Community Pediatrics (Yingying Xu, MS, Kimberly Yolton, PhD) and Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (Jane Khoury, PhD) to evaluate injury risk among children enrolled in the Health Outcomes and Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Study using a developmental framework. This framework found a higher risk for medically attended injuries in the home in children with cognitive delays, especially those with normal motor development. This work lays the foundation for further exploring ways to modify injury prevention efforts for children with developmental delays.

Julia Anixt, MD

Dr. Anixt, MD, has built a research team with faculty members in the Division of General and Community Pediatrics (William Brinkman, MD) and Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology (Jareen Meinzen-Derr, PhD) to evaluate the effects of Shared Decision Making (SDM) between clinicians and parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Dr. Anixt’s research has shown that use of SDM to treat challenging behaviors not only better aligns parent’s priorities with the treatment plan, but also reduces the level of decisional conflict care givers using shared decision making not only reduces the level of decisional conflict caregivers face around difficult treatment decisions regarding behavioral medications and has a downstream effects of reducing parenting stress. This study has been crucial in strengthening the physician-caregiver experience, as many many children with ASD cannot describe their reactions to or benefits of medications making decisions challenging for families.

Patty Manning, MD

Dr. Manning-Courtney, MD, is collaborating with the Division of Psychiatry (Craig Erickson, MD, Ernest Pedapati, MD) to allow our clinical systems to substantially contribute to a national research network, SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge) which is a national study focusing on genetic and medical data to improve the lives of children with autism spectrum disorder. Furthermore, Dr. Manning and Dr. Anixt, MD, are involved in network work within the Interactive Autism Network (established at the Kennedy Krieger Institute) which strives to lead to advancements in understanding and treating autism spectrum disorder.