Kevin Pelphrey, PhD, is the Carbonell Family Professor and Director of the Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute at George Washington University (GW) and Children’s National Health System (CNHS) in Washington, DC and Virginia. The Institute serves as a focal point for translational research and comprehensive clinical services for people living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Pelphrey’s program of research investigates the brain basis of neurodevelopmental disorders to develop biologically-based tools for detection, prediction, and individually tailored treatments. Using multimodal neuroimaging, his team has identified the neural circuitry supporting the representation of social cues, including auditory, visual and tactile social signals, as well as neurocomputational mechanisms for social learning. They have applied the knowledge generated from these studies to understanding the predictors of response and neural mechanisms supporting improvements in social learning and social communication in children, adolescents and adults with autism receiving behavioral treatments, pharmacological interventions, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and virtual reality mediated “telemedicine” CBT. Dr. Pelphrey is the Principal Investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Autism Center of Excellence Multimodal Developmental Neurogenetics of Females with Autism National Network that spans GW/CNHS, Yale, University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Francisco, University of Southern California, and Seattle Children’s Research Institute. This Network has generated a shared national treasure consisting of comprehensive, gene-brain-behavior data from large and diverse cohorts of young women and men with ASD. They are now following these young people as they transition through adolescence and into young adulthood. Dr. Pelphrey’s scientific contributions have been recognized by receipt of a Scientist Career Development Award from the NIH, a John Merck Scholars Award, and the American Psychological Association's Boyd McCandless Award for distinguished early career theoretical contributions to Developmental Psychology. He is the father of two children on the autism spectrum and is a public member of the Federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. |
|
Jennifer R. Frey, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Assistant Professor and Board Certified Behavior Analyst, coordinates the Early Childhood Special Education Graduate Program in the Department of Special Education and Disability Studies in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and directs the Early Childhood Research Program in the GW Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute (ANDI). Dr. Frey received her doctorate in education and human development with a major in special education and specializations in educational psychology and applied behavior analysis from Vanderbilt University. While a doctoral student, Dr. Frey was a Dunn Family Scholar of Educational and Psychological Assessment, and she received the Melvyn I. Semmel Dissertation Research Award. Dr. Frey’s research focuses on early language acquisition and partner-mediated approaches to early social communication interventions. She works with parents, teachers, and children across home, school, and clinic settings to examine the effects of naturalistic strategies used to support and enhance language and social behavioral development of young children with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, young children at risk for poor language and social emotional outcomes due to factors associated with cleft palate, and children at risk for learning challenges due to poverty-related risk factors. Her work has been published in leading journals and handbooks in the fields of special education, speech-language pathology, and school psychology |
|
Ashley Darcy-Mahoney, PhD, NNP, FAAN, a neonatal nurse practitioner and researcher, has worked throughout her career to advance nursing research, education and practice, with a focus on neonatology, infant health and developmental pediatrics. Her research has led to the creation of programs that improve health and developmental outcomes for at-risk and preterm infants. As the director of infant research at George Washington University’s Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute, Dr. Darcy-Mahoney advances the body of research in infant health and developmental outcomes in high-risk infants. In addition to her work with the Institute, she conducts interdisciplinary research through “Talk With Me Baby” a multiagency initiative using the nursing workforce to educate parents in the importance of talking and engaging with their babies in early infancy. Her research seeks to improve early-childhood outcomes for these infants, most recently through language interventions that improve future literacy and cognitive development. Dr. Darcy-Mahoney is a Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Nurse Faculty Scholar and with her most recent grant from the RWJ Foundation, she is pursuing outcomes research in preterm infants by comparing developmental trajectories of children raised in a bilingual environment against those raised in a monolingual environment. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nurses, was named among the Top 25 Pediatric Nursing Professors by nursepractitionerschools.com. and has earned numerous awards, including the 2014 March of Dimes Nurse of the Year, Florida Association of Neonatal Nurses President’s Award and the Lillian Sholtis Brunner Award for Innovation from her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. |
|
Molly L. Whalen is a life-long Washington DC resident and a results-driven nonprofit leader with over 25 years of experience in positions involved with strategic planning, community relations, leadership training, communications, and fundraising & development. A seasoned facilitator and presenter, she has presented hundreds of leadership and development workshops nationwide. Molly is currently the Executive Director of the DC Association for Special Education (DCASE). In her role, she serves as a catalyst and connector in building collaborations to greater serve the local special education and disability community. She previously served for five years as the Director of Development & Communications for The Ivymount School & Programs, where she is credited with raising visibility of special education issues and cultivating community outreach through creative initiatives such as Ivymount's successful annual Community Special Needs Resource Fair. As a parent of two children with autism she has a passion for improving the environment of special education and disability advocacy for all stakeholders, and creating a positive experience for parents and families of children with special needs. A dedicated volunteer, she has served as a board member for several local and national organizations; including the DC Special Education Cooperative, Fight for Children Quality Schools Initiative, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities, DDS Family Support Council, PCORI Advisory Panel for Community-Based Interventions for Low-Income Children with ADHD and ASD, and the Imagination Stage Access Task Force. Molly is a member of the strategic development team who piloted and designed sensory friendly programming for families with children with special needs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She is currently serving as a member of the State Advisory Panel (SAP) for Special Education in the District of Columbia, which she was appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007, and led as Chair from 2008-2012. In 2011 she was honored with the St. John's Community Service Advocacy Award for her service in supporting people with disabilities in the District. |
|