I am a clinical psychologist and associate professor of pediatrics in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology. I am also the director of psychological services for the Cincinnati Fragile X Center. I specialize in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and fragile X syndrome, and have a strong interest in emotion regulation intervention.

I believe in empowering families and youth with the skills they need to manage stress and strong emotions, particularly those impacted by disparities. I lead a wide range of studies related to ASD, and am a co-investigator for several fragile X studies.

I am a child and adult psychiatrist as well as a pediatrician who specializes in neurodevelopmental concerns, particularly ASD and fragile X syndrome. I am currently a co-investigator on the SPARK clinical trial.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of pediatrics in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology. I completed my doctoral degree in school psychology at the University of South Carolina, including a clinical internship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine / Kennedy Krieger Institute, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

I specialize in psychological evaluation and individual and group treatment services to children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and related disorders, particularly ASD and fragile X syndrome. My research interests mirror my clinical interests and have focused on developmental, diagnostic and treatment outcomes in individuals at high genetic risk for ASD. More specifically, I am interested in the integration of behavioral and biological (e.g., heart rate, eye tracking) mechanisms to characterize diagnostic outcomes and measure treatment progress.

I have been in the social work field since 2009, after receiving my bachelor’s and master’s from The Ohio State University. I am independently licensed with supervisory status in the state of Ohio and have served as a clinical and research social worker at Cincinnati Children's since 2014.

I specialize in patients with co-occurring mental health and developmental diagnoses and have been involved with the Regulating Together program since its inception as an assessor and group facilitator. I am most energized by family components of research, and research that directly provides education and skills to patients and families for improving everyday life.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of pediatrics with extensive training in neurodevelopmental disorders. Since joining the team over 4 years ago, I have been a primary investigator or co-investigator on several projects.

Broadly, my work focuses on identifying clinical correlates of neurophysiological and molecular biomarkers as well as characterizing potential subgroups of drug responders in fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder. I am also particularly interested in measuring and treating cognitive flexibility in neurodevelopmental disorders.

I am a board certified clinical geneticist, and am an attending physician and assistant professor in the division of human genetics. My interests include the clinical evaluation and diagnosis of genetic syndromes and risk variants in children and adults with neurodevelopmental disorders including autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability and psychiatric disease burden. The focus of my research is on increasing accessibility to genetic testing for patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. I have an interest in emerging technologies for clinical diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders and have active collaborations to explore long read genomic sequencing techniques. I am the site clinical geneticist for the SPARK Simon’s foundation research genomic sequencing for patients with autism and for the Autism Care Network PATH to Discovery Project.

I am a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of pediatrics in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology.

I specialize in assessment and diagnosis of individuals with a variety of developmental disability diagnoses, including autism spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome. My work in the lab includes research assessment, trainee supervision, and collaboration with other lab team members in writing scholarly articles.

I graduated with a BS in psychology and a minor in communication, and a certificate in deaf studies from the University of Cincinnati. While in school, I was a student in the Shaffer Lab and since then, have become a clinical research coordinator. In this role, I am the lead coordinator on an early intervention study, partnering with Florida State University, and the senior coordinator on the Regulating Together study.

I also assist with several other studies including Quadrant and SPARK. My primary research interests revolved around autism spectrum disorder (ASD), emotion regulation, interpersonal communication patters, and interpersonal relationships in the ASD community.

I graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science in child development and a minor in communications.

In my role as a clinical research coordinator, I am the lead coordinator for a study focused on identifying mRNA biomarkers of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through saliva collection. My primary research interest involves children with developmental disabilities, particularly in the area of ASD.

I am a recent master’s graduate from Goldsmiths, University of London in cognitive and clinical neuroscience and started working as a clinical research coordinator in October 2022.

I am the lead coordinator for the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) study that uses saliva samples to analyze genes related to autism spectrum disorder. I am also the lead coordinator for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grant for SPARK that attempts to better engage the black autism community of Cincinnati.

I graduated with a bachelor of science in psychology from Northern Kentucky University, and have been working as a clinical research coordinator since December of 2009. In that time I have worked mostly with teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, in studies that teach daily living skills. I have been lead coordinator on many projects, as well as assisted with countless others in a variety of specializations. Though I have experience with all aspects of clinical research, my main interests as a senior coordinator are data management and cleaning, regulatory, reporting, study start up / closeout and training.

I graduated from Bucknell University with a double major in psychology and critical black studies. During my time as an undergraduate student, I worked on a research team investigating campus sexual assault (CSA), and completed an honors thesis investigating CSA within the Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) community.

At Cincinnati Childrens, I previously worked in the Center for ADHD as an educational counselor for the Summer Treatment Program. In my current position, I am a coordinator for the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK) study that uses saliva samples to analyze genes related to autism spectrum disorder. I will also take part in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grant for SPARK that yields to engage the BIPOC autism community of Cincinnati.

I graduated from Miami University in 2022 with a degree in psychology and minor in neuroscience. While there, I did research with reward behaviors, hallucinogens as fast-acting treatment for depression and anxiety and emotional dysregulation in mother-child relationships. I joined the Shaffer Lab in June 2022 with the hopes to explore my interest in neurodevelopmental disorders among pediatric patients and investigating new treatments to better support them and their families. I am also interested in working to increase accessibility to education and resources for families through community-based work. When I am not in the lab, I enjoy reading, traveling and searching for the next best coffee shop in town.

I graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor of science in hearing, speech and language sciences, and a minor in psychology. I recently joined the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology as a clinical research coordinator. My previous work experience at Cincinnati Children’s includes roles within inpatient and partial hospitalization, as well as the Regulating Together IOP Program. I’m excited to be leading the Department of Defense funded trial of Regulating Together.