DDMH Learning Community Meeting

DDMH-Learning Community

The Developmental Disabilities Mental Health - Learning Community (DDMH-LC) meets quarterly, working collaboratively to enhance practices to support NJ’s youth with IDD and mental health challenges and their families.

Join Us for the Upcoming

DDMH-LC Meeting!

Friday, November 4, 2022

10am-12pm

Detection & Connection

Monitoring and Addressing the Autism Surge

Early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an important public health priority, and receipt of Early Intervention Services may improve ASD outcomes. Join presenters as they discuss autism monitoring activities and their findings related to autism trends and disparities in autism identification.

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Walter Zahorodny, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and an associate professor of Pediatrics at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Zahorodny is the principal investigator of the New Jersey Autism Study, a public health surveillance system that has been monitoring the prevalence and expression of autism spectrum disorder in our region for twenty years. His current activities focus on developing strategies for the early identification of autism and understanding autism risk factors.

Dr. Josephine Shenouda is a program manager at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and an adjunct professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at Rutgers School of Public Health. Dr. Shenouda is a co-investigator on multiple studies focused on autism and has recently completed her doctoral work on trends in autism epidemiology. Dr. Shenouda’s research focuses on developing evidence-based strategies for ASD interventions and to address health disparities in ASD identification and intervention.

Kate Sidwell is a project coordinator for the New Jersey Autism Study and Pediatric: Detection + Connection project at Rutgers NJ Medical School. Ms. Sidwell’s research interests include determining the prevalence and characteristics of autism, identifying strategies for earlier autism identification and intervention, and reducing health disparities in the ASD population.