My clinical involvement is primarily with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and I have worked in this field for more than twenty years. I was involved in developing the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) Team at Chedoke Child and Family Centre, a regional diagnostic and treatment program for children with this diagnosis. In July 2002 I assumed the role of Head, Division of Child Psychiatry, and also Vice-Chair of Research for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University. In February 2004 I was appointed the first holder of the Chedoke Health Chair in Child Psychiatry at McMaster.

I am interested in bringing together clinical epidemiology (especially longitudinal approaches), genetic epidemiology and neuroscience to the study of developmental health of children. Previous research includes investigating the diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, conducting a follow-up study of high functioning PDD children with autism and other types of pervasive developmental disorder and a family study of autism/PDD. As part of an international collaboration investigating the genetics of autism (the Autism Genome Project), I am presently conducting several studies, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to try and identify the genes that cause the disorder and that affect severity of expression. I am also conducting a multi-site, cross Canada, study of the developmental trajectories of very young children with autism/PDD. I am Director of the Canadian Autism Intervention Network (CAIRN), a group of parents, clinicians and scientists working to develop a research agenda in early intervention in autism. CAIRN supports a web site (www.cairn-site.com) that disseminates the latest evidence-based information on early intervention and screening in autism.

Selected Publications

Szatmari P, Zwaigenbaum L and Bryson S. Conducting genetic epidemiology studies of Autism Spectrum Disorders: Issues in Matching. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 34(1):49-57, 2004.

Walker DR, Thompson A, Zwaigenbaum L, Goldberg J, Bryson SE, Mahoney WJ, Strawbridge CP, Szatmari P. Specifying PDD-NOS: A comparison of PDD-NOS, Asperger syndrome and autism. Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43:2, 172-180, 2004.

Xu J, Zwaigenbaum L, Szatmari P, Scherer S. Molecular Cytogenetics of Autism
Current Genomics, 5, 347-364, 2004.

Szatmari P, Bryson SE, Boyle MH and Duku E. Predictors of outcome among high functioning children with autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 44(4):520-528, 2003.

Starr E, Szatmari P, Bryson S and Zwaigenbaum L. Stability and change among high functioning children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders: A two-year outcome study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33:15-22, 2003.

Szatmari P. The art of evidence-based child psychiatry. Evid Based Ment Health, 6(4):99-100, 2003.

Szatmari P The Causes of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). British Medical Journal 326(7382326):173-174, 2003.

Nicholson R and Szatmari P. Genetic and neurodevelopmental influences in autistic disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 48(8):27-38, 2003.

Scherer SW, Cheung J, MacDonald JR et al. Human chromosome 7: DNA sequence and biology. Science 300(5620):767-72, 2003.

Cleverley K, Semogas D, Byrne C and Szatmari P. An international comparison of psychiatric symptoms in inner city street youth. Journal of Urban Health Themes in Urban Health 80:ii77-78, 2003.

Semogas D, Cleverley K, Rice C, Roelofsen D, Jensen C, Hjartarson K, Thomas H and Szatmari P. Measuring Quality of Life Among Inner City Street Youth. Journal of Urban Health Themes in Urban Health Vol 80:ii106, 2003.

Brian JA, Landry R, Szatmari P, Bryson SE. Habituation in high-risk infants: reliability and patterns of responding. Infant and Child Development, 12:387-294, 2003.

Books

Szatmari P A Mind Apart: Understanding Children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome Guilford Press, 2004.

Kathryn Bennett is an Associate Professor and Graduate Studies Coordinator, Health Research Methodology Program, in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Dr. Bennett holds an MSc degree from McMaster University in Clinical Epidemiology (Design, Measurement and Evaluation) and a PhD in Health Studies from the University of Waterloo. She is a past recipient of a National Health Student Fellowship from Health Canada, an Ontario Mental Health Foundation research training award, a MacArthur Foundation junior faculty award and an Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Career Scientist Award (1999-2004). From 1988 to 1997 she was Associate Director, Co-Director and then Director of the McMaster International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) training programme, a Rockefeller Foundation initiative designed to strengthen the health research capacity of medical schools in the developing world.

Currently, Dr. Bennett holds an Ontario Mental Health Foundation Intermediate Research Fellowship. She is also an advisory board member for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Heath and Addiction. Ongoing research projects include: i) A Case-control Study of Anxious School Refusal in Ontario Children and Youth; ii) Chronic Suspension in Elementary School: A Follow-up Study of Academic and Mental Health Outcomes; iii) Healthy Child Development through Improved Knowledge Translation Strategies; iv) Early Mental Health Status and Academic Attainment: Results from the Ontario Child Health Study; iv) studies of the adolescent outcomes of early conduct problems using data from the 1958 and 1970 British Cohort Studies; and v) the design and evaluation of school-wide programs to prevent aggression and violence.

Selected publications

Boyle, M.H. & Willms, J.D. Place effects for areas defined by administrative boundaries. American Journal of Epidemiology, 149, 577-584, 1999.

Boyle, M.H., Cunningham, C.E., Heale, J., Hundert, J., McDonald, J., Offord, D.R. & Racine, Y. Helping Children Adjust - A Tri-Ministry Study: I. Evaluation methodology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40: 1051 - 1060, 1999.

Hundert, J., Boyle, M.H., Cunningham, C.E., Duku, E., McDonald, J., Offord, D.R. & Racine, Y. Helping Children Adjust - A Tri-Ministry Study: II. Program effects. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 40: 1061 - 1073, 1999.

Boyle, M.H. Willms, J.D. Multilevel modelling of hierarchical data in developmental studies. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 141-162, 2001.

Boyle, M.H., Sanford, M., Szatmari, P., Merikangas, K., Offord, D.R. Familial aggregation of substance use in a general population sample. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 92(3), 206-209, 2001.

Boyle, M.H. Home ownership and the emotional and behavioural problems of children and adolescents. Child Development . 73(3), 883-892, 2002.

Boyle, M.H. Lipman, E.L.. Do places matter? Socioeconomic disadvantage and child problem behaviour in Canada. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 70 (2), 378-389, 2002.

Dr. Cunningham is a psychologist at McMaster Children’s Hospital and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where he holds the Jack Laidlaw Chair in Patient-Centred Health Care.

Dr. Cunningham developed and has conducted research examining the utilization, cost effectiveness, and outcome of large group, community-based COPE programs for parents of children with disruptive behavior disorders. He has been involved in the development and evaluation of school-based student-mediated conflict resolution programs involving students in the reduction of playground violence and is a co-investigator on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Foundation Community-University Research Alliance grant to develop more effective bullying and violence prevention programs. He also led the development of the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview, a computerized children’s mental health screening and outcome measurement tool used by the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia.

Dr. Cunningham’s current research includes an evaluation of the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview and the use of consumer preference modeling strategies to involve parents and professionals in the design of more effective children’s mental health information transfer strategies.  Both of these projects are funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He is also involved in longitudinal studies funded by the Ontario Mental Health Foundation which focus on the social and psychophysiological correlates of the early anxiety disorders selective mutism and social phobia. 

Selected publications

Cunningham, C. E. (in press). COPE: Large group, community based, family-centred parent training. In R. A.  Barkley (Ed.) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity:  A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press.

Cunningham, C. E., McHolm, A., Boyle, M., & Patel, S.  (2004). Behavioral and emotional adjustment, family functioning, academic performance, and social relationships in children with selective mutism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1363-1372.

Cunningham, C. E., Pettingill, P., & Boyle, M. H.  (2004). The Brief Child and Family Phone Interview Version 3: Interviewer’s Manual. Hamilton: BCFPI Works.

Cunningham, C. E. & Cunningham, L. J. (in press). Student mediated conflict resolution.  In R. A.  Barkley (Ed.) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity: A Handbook for Diagnosis and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press.

Cunningham, C. E. (2003). Modelling patient-centred children’s health services using choice-based conjoint and hierarchical bayes. Proceedings of the Sawtooth Software Conference. Washington: Sawtooth Software.

Cunningham, C. E., Woodward, C., Lendrum, B., MacIntosh, J., & Shannon, H., Rosenbloom, D., & Brown, J. (2002). Readiness for organizational change: A longitudinal study of workplace, psychological, and behavioral correlates. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 75, 377-392.

Cunningham, C. E. & Cunningham, L. J. (2001). Enhancing the effectiveness of student-mediated conflict resolution programs. Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in Youth, 2, 7-22.

Cunningham, C. E., Boyle, M., Offord, D., Racine, Y., & Hundert, J., Secord, M.& McDonald, J. (2000). Tri Ministry Project: Diagnostic and demographic correlates of school-based parenting course utilization. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 928-933.

Cunningham, C. E., Cunningham, L. J., Martorelli, V., Tran, A., Young, J., & Zacharias,  A. (1998). The effects of primary division student mediation programs on playground aggression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 653-662.

Scott Davies is Professor of Sociology and an Associate Member of the Department of Political Science at McMaster University.  He is an associate editor of Canadian Public Policy, and has been on the editorial boards of Sociology of Education, American Journal of Education, and Sociological Inquiry.   He has won awards from the American Education Research Association and the Canadian Society for Studies in Education.

Dr. Davies’ research revolves around a core theme: change and inequality in education.  He has examined disparities in student outcomes, including rates of dropping out of high school, educational aspirations, access to higher education, and transitions to employment.  He has researched longitudinal links between these inequalities and youth delinquency, examining the impact of youth subcultures on school success, job attainment, and criminal labelling.  He is also investigating how emerging school organizations and politics are reshaping educational opportunities.   He is studying school choice initiatives that promise to benefit at-risk students by subjecting schools to market forces and accountability procedures.  He is particularly interested in how the demand for educational alternatives reflects changing cultures of parenting and child-rearing.  Much of his research is oriented to connecting educational policy trends to globalization, social movements, and public opinion.

Selected Publications

Contributions to books

Davies S (in press). Inequalities in Canadian Education in Social Inequality in Canada: Patterns, Problems, and Policies (5th edition) edited by Edward Grabb and Neil Guppy. Toronto: Prentice Hall.

Davies S & Neil G (2006). The Schooled Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Education. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Journal articles

Zarifa D & Davies S (in press). Balance of Powers: Public Opinion on Control in Education. Canadian Journal of Sociology.

Davies S and Linda Q (2007). The Impact of Sector on School Organizations: The Logics of Markets and Institutions. Sociology of Education, 80(1): 66-89.

Davies S & Quirke L (2005). Providing for the Priceless Student: Ideologies of Choice in an Emerging Educational Market. American Journal of Education, 111(4): 523-547.

Davies S (2004). School Choice by Default? Understanding the Demand for Private Tutoring in Canada. American Journal of Education, 110(3): 233-255.

Davies S & Tanner J (2003). The Long Arm of the Law: A Test of Labelling Theory. Sociological Quarterly, 44(3): 385-404.

Tanner J, Davies S & O'Grady W (1999). Whatever Happened to Yesterday's Rebels?  Longitudinal Effects of Teenage Delinquency on Education and Occupational Outcomes. Social Problems, 46(2): 250-274.

Martin Dooley is a Professor in the Department of Economics and an Associate Member in the School of Social Work at McMaster University. Dr. Dooley holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. His research interests are in health economics, labour economics and the economics of the family. Current research projects include the socioeconomic determinants of child health and development, including the impact of family income and neighbourhood quality on child well-being. He has a particular interest in the impact of social policy on low-income families with children, especially single-parent families. Dr. Dooley is a member of the Advisory Committee of Social Statistics, Statistics Canada.

Major research projects currently underway:

1) Family Income and Child Outcomes, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in collaboration with Jennifer Stewart, formerly of the Offord Centre. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, this study looks at the role that family income plays in the determination of children?fs health and development.

2) Early Influences on Health and Development in Adulthood, also funded by SSHRC, in collaboration with Paul Contoyannis and Michael Boyle, McMaster University. Using data from the Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS), this study looks at the original participants 17 years later and compares their socioeconomic status as children to their socioeconomic status as young adults.

Two other projects, both funded by the Council of Educational Statistics of Canada and SSHRC, look at (a) the effects of school choice on learning outcomes and (b) the effect of rising tuition levels on students?f choice of university.

Selected Publications

Dooley MD & Stewart J (2007). Family Income, Parenting Styles and Child Behavioural-Emotional Outcomes. Health Economics 16, 2.

Dooley MD, Lipman E & Stewart J (2005). Exploring the Good Mother Hypothesis: Do Child Outcomes Vary with the Mother’s Share of Income? Canadian Public Policy 31, 2: 123-144.

Dooley MD & Stewart J (2004). Family Income and Child Outcomes in Canada. Canadian Journal of Economics 37, 4: 898-917. 

Curtis L, Dooley MD, & Phipps S (2004). Child Well-Being and Neighbourhood Quality: Evidence from the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Social Science and Medicine 58, 10: 1917-1927.

Lipman E, Dooley MD, Boyle M & Offord D (2002). Child Well-Being in Single-Mother Families. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 41, 1: 75-82.

Curtis L, Dooley MD, Lipman E & Feeny D (2001). The Role of Permanent Income and Family Structure in the Determination of Child Health in the Ontario Child Health Study. Health Economics 10: 287-302.

Lipman E, Dooley MD & Offord D (2001). Special Demands of Single Parenting. In Vulnerable Children edited by Doug Willms. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press.

Dooley MD, Gascon S, Lefebvre P & Merrigan P (2000). Lone Female Headship and Welfare Policy in Canada. The Journal of Human Resources 35, 3: 587-602.

Dooley MD & Stewart J. The Duration of Spells On Welfare and Off Welfare Among Lone Mothers in Ontario. Canadian Public Policy 25, Supplement, November 1999, 25: S47-S72.

Kathy Georgiades is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University.  She holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon.  Following a clinical internship at The Hospital for Sick Children, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, to model the effects of social disadvantage on mental health adjustment among immigrant and non-immigrant youth.

Dr. Georgiades’ research examines the influences of neighbourhoods, schools and families on developmental health, with an emphasis on immigrant children and families.  She was recently awarded a New Investigator Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation to assess the feasibility of conducting a longitudinal study of immigrant youth in grades 6-8 in Hamilton, Ontario. The study will compare the mental health and functioning of refugee, immigrant and non-immigrant youth, and examine the extent to which exposure to stressful life circumstances accounts for group differences in mental health and functioning.

Geoffrey Hall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where he is a specialist in neuroimaging. He holds a PhD in Medical Sciences from McMaster, and a Masters degree in Human Biology from the University of Guelph.

Dr. Hall's research interests lie in the areas of affective and cognitive neuroscience relative to neurodevelopmental disorders and psychopathology, including depression and social phobia. He uses PET, functional MRI, and EEG to gain a better understanding of the neural circuitry underlying emotion processing, reward/punishment appraisal, memory and social cognition. His work in child development consists of exploring the neurological underpinnings of emotion, shared attention, affective signalling, emotion regulation, multimodal integration and symbol formation. In this regard, a major research interest is the neuropsychology of autism and associated limbic circuitry and neurotransmitter systems.

Dr. Hall is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, and a member of the Steering Committee for the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, a research institute exploring how music affects brain development. He is also a member of McMaster's Brain-Body Institute and the Father Sean O'Sullivan Research Centre, both of which are based at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton.

Susan Jack is an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing and an Associate Member in the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University.  She holds a BScN from the University of Alberta and a PhD (Nursing) from McMaster University.  As a nurse, she has worked in predominantly community settings providing public health services to promote healthy child and parent development.  From 2004-2006, she held a Post Doctoral Fellowship from the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation/Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).  This fellowship provided the opportunity to study at the Offord Centre for Child Studies to develop expertise on community approaches for the prevention of family violence and at the Centre for Knowledge Transfer, University of Alberta, to develop skills related to knowledge transfer and exchange strategies. 

Currently, Dr. Jack holds the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Reproduction and Child Health New Investigator Personnel Award (2007-2012).  Using predominantly qualitative and mixed methods approaches to research, she is involved in the following ongoing research projects: (1) development and evaluation of an intervention for intimate partner violence in the context of nurse home visits; (2) conduct of qualitative research by nurse-researchers with women exposed to intimate partner violence; (3) uptake and utilization of research evidence by child welfare policy makers; (4) evidence-informed decision-making in women’s health and translating research knowledge about intimate partner violence for policy and practice; (5) exploring knowledge brokering in public health; (6) parenting by women exposed to childhood maltreatment;  and (7) qualitative projects within the McMaster University Violence Against Women program of research. 

Selected Publications

Jack SM (2006). The utility of qualitative research findings in evidence-based public health practice. Public Health Nursing, 23(3), 278-284.

Jack,SM,Sangster-Bouck LM, Beynon C, Ciliska D, & Lewis M (2005). Marketing a hard-to-swallow message: Recommendations for the design of media campaigns to increase awareness about the risks of binge drinking.  Canadian Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 189-193.

Jack SM, DiCenso A, & Lohfeld L (2005). Vulnerable families’ participation in home visits: A theory of maternal engagement with public health nurses and family visitors. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 49(2), 182-190.

Dr. Magdalena Janus holds a Ph. D. in behavioural sciences from Cambridge University. Her doctoral research involved studying the nature of relationships among young human and non-human primates. Her subsequent research as a post-doctoral fellow and research associate at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto included mother-infant relationships in children with chronic illness, impact of childhood chronic illness on the child’s behavioural and academic adjustment in school, family coping, and the quality of sibling relationship. Her research has been funded by both Canadian and US agencies. Currently, she is an assistant professor and Chair in Early Child Development at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

Since joining the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in 1997, Dr. Janus has been involved, together with Dr. Offord, in a community-linked project (School Readiness to Learn Project http://www.offordcentre.com/readiness/) developing a measure of children’s readiness to learn at school entry, called the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The focus of this research is to provide communities with information that will inform them about the status of children’s early development and provide a tool for mobilization of resources. In this endeavour, she is collaborating with the federal ministry of Human Resources & Social Development Canada, the Ontario Ministry for Children and Youth Services, and Ministry of Education, Healthy Child Manitoba, and communities across the country. The EDI has also been adapted for use by a number of other countries, most notably in Australia, where an initiative similar to the Canadian one was initiated in 2004.

Dr. Janus has taught undergraduate students at Cambridge University (UK), York University and University of Guelph (Canada). She holds academic appointments at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and at the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University. She takes an active role in undergraduate education of future physicians, and teaches in Bachelor of Health Sciences and Psychology programs.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Contributions to books

Janus M (2007). Monitoring community progress on school readiness. In: Young, Mary Eming (ed.) Early Child Development – From Measurement to Action. A Priority for Growth and Equity. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.  Available at:  http://www.worldbank.org/children.

Janus M (2004). Voices from the Field – Transition to school practices: the need for evidence. In: Tremblay, R.E., Barr, R.G., Peters R.DeV., (eds.) Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development, p. 104. Available at http://www.excellence-earlychildhood.ca/documents/JanusANG.pdf.

Janus M, Walsh CA, Viveiros H, Offord D R (2003). Community, neighbourhood and 5-year-olds’ readiness to learn at school. In: Head Start Sixth National Conference: The First Eight Years, Pathways to the Future, F. Lamb-Parker F., J. Hagen, R. Robinson & H. Rhee (eds.), The Head Start Bureau, Washington DC, pp. 779-780.

Selected Publications

Janus M, Cameron R, Lefort J, Kopechanski L (in press). Starting kindergarten: What do we know about issues affecting the transition to school for children with special needs? Canadian Journal of Education.

Janus M, Offord D (2007). Development and psychometric properties of the Early Development Instrument (EDI): A measure of children’s school readiness. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science 39(1), 1-22.

Janus M (2006). Measuring Community Early Child Development. The Canadian Association of Principals Journal (CAP) 14 (3), 14-16.

Janus, M. & Offord, D. (2000) Reporting on readiness to learn at school in Canada. ISUMA: Canadian Journal of Policy Research, 1 (2), 71-75.

Selected Publications

Contributions to books

Lipman EL, Offord DR (2006). Conduct Disorder in Girls. In: S. Romans and M. Seeman (eds). Women’s Mental Health: A Life Cycle Approach. Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA, USA pp 93-107.

Lipman EL, Offord DR, Dooley MD, Boyle MH (2002). Special Demands of Single Parenting. In: Willms, J.D. (ed.), Vulnerable Children. University of Alberta Press pp. 229-242.

Journal articles

De Wit DJ, Lipman EL, Manzano M, Bisanz J, Graham K, O'Neill E, Pepler D, Shaver K (in press). Feasibility of a randomized controlled trial for evaluating the effectiveness of the Big Brothers Big Sisters community match program at the national level. Children and Youth Services Review.

Lipman EL, Boyle MH, Cunningham C, Kenny M, Sniderman C, Mills B, Evans P, Waymouth M (2006). Testing effectiveness of a community-based aggression management program for children 7 to11 years old and their families.  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45, 9, 1085-1093.

Anderson T, Lipman EL, Mills B, Metz H, Teram E, Elbard M, Waymouth M, Sanford M (2006). The Recreation Mentoring Program: A community engagement initiative for children.  Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 15, 59-63.

Lipman EL, Boyle MH. (2005).  Evaluation of community-based support/education groups for lone mothers (2005).  Canadian Medical Association Journal 173, 1451-1456.

Williams S, Friedrich M, Lipman EL, Mills B, Evans P (2004). Evaluation of a children’s temper taming program. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 49, 607-612.

Cairney J, Boyle MH, Lipman EL, Racine YA (2004). Single mothers and their use of professionals for mental health care reasons. Social Science and Medicine 59, 2535-2546.

Lipman, EL, Boyle, MH, (2003). Four points about efficacy research to real life research (letter). American Journal of Psychiatry 160, 387.

Lipman EL, Secord M, Boyle MH, (2002). Moving from the clinic to the community: The Alone Mothers Together Program. Canadian Child Psychiatry Review 11, 5-8.

Boyle MH, Lipman EL, (2002). Do places matter? Socioeconomic disadvantage and child problem behaviour in Canada. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 70, 378-389.

Lipman EL, Boyle MH, Dooley MD, Offord DR, (2002). Child well-being in single-mother families. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 75-82.

Dr. MacMillan is a pediatrician and child psychiatrist working in the area of violence against children and women. She is a Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and Pediatrics at McMaster University with associate memberships in the Departments of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and Psychology. In 2006, she became the first holder of the Dan Offord Chair in Child Psychiatry. Dr. MacMillan is principal investigator on the CIHR New Emerging Team grant that investigates the health impacts of violence across the life span, including child maltreatment, violence against women, dating violence and elder abuse. In addition, she is currently principal investigator of a grant funded by the Ontario Women’s Health Council to evaluate the effectiveness of screening for violence against women in reducing subsequent violence. Dr. MacMillan also conducts research in the area of Aboriginal health, and is currently participating in a CIHR-funded initiative, the Network Environments for Aboriginal Health Research (NEAHR) program to facilitate trainees in Aboriginal health research having enhanced opportunities for research training. Her research has been supported by several awards including a Faculty Scholar Award from the William T. Grant Foundation and a Wyeth CIHR Clinical Research Chair in Women’s Mental Health.

Dr. MacMillan’s academic involvement overlaps with her clinical activities. She is a member of the Child Advocacy and Assessment Program (CAAP) at McMaster Children’s Hospital; it involves a multidisciplinary team committed to reducing the burden of suffering associated with child maltreatment. The clinical arm serves the central south region of Ontario by providing assessments and consultations regarding issues in family violence. Dr. MacMillan was the Director of CAAP from its beginning in 1993 through to 2004.

Selected Publications

McLennan JD, Wathen CN, MacMillan HL, Lavis JN (2006). Research-practice gaps in child mental health.  Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 45:658-665.

MacMillan HL, Wathen CN, Jamieson E, Boyle MH, McNutt L-A, Worster A, Lent B, Webb M for the McMaster Violence Against Women Group (2006). Approaches to screening for intimate partner violence in health care settings: a randomized trial.  Journal of the American Medical Association 296: 530-536.

Tang B, Jamieson E, Boyle MH, Libby AM, Gafni A, MacMillan HL (2006). The influence of child abuse on the pattern of expenditures in women’s adult health service utilization in Ontario, Canada. Social Science and Medicine 63:1711-1719.

MacMillan HL, Wathen CN (2005). Family violence research: Lessons learned and where from here? Journal of the American Medical Association 294:618-620.

MacMillan HL, Thomas BH, Jamieson E, Walsh CA, Boyle MH, Shannon H, Gafni A (2005). Effectiveness of public health nurse home visitation in preventing the recurrence of child physical abuse and neglect: a randomized, controlled trial. Lancet 365:1786-1793.

Shea A, Walsh CA, MacMillan HL, Steiner M (2005). Child maltreatment and HPA axis dysregulation: relationship to major depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder in females. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30:162-178.

MacMillan HL, Jamieson E, Walsh CA (2003). Reported contact with child protection services among those reporting child physical and sexual abuse: results from a community survey. Child Abuse and Neglect 12:1397-1408.

MacMillan HL, Walsh CA, Jamieson E, Wong MY-Y, Faries EJ, McCue H, MacMillan AB, Offord DR, with The Technical Advisory Committee of the Chiefs of Ontario (2003). The Health of Ontario First Nations People: Results from the Ontario First Nations Regional Health Survey. Canadian Journal of Public Health 94:168-172.

MacMillan HL, Fleming JE, Streiner DL, Lin ., Boyle HH, Jamieson E, Duku EK, Walsh CA, Wong MY-Y, Beardslee WR (2001). Childhood abuse and lifetime psychopathology in a community sample of Ontario residents. American Journal of Psychiatry 158:1878-1883.

I have always been interested in children, especially unusual children, and studied psychology at York University. While in graduate school, I worked at various locations, including the Children’s Aid Society, The Hospital for Sick Children, the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Surrey Place Centre, and Hugh MacMillan Rehabilitation Centre. I finished my Ph.D. in Clinical Developmental Psychology, and won the Doctoral Dissertation Prize for my research on persistence and independence in young children with Down syndrome. I became a registered psychologist, and am now the Director of the Infant-Parent Program, an early intervention program for high-risk infants under 2 years.  In this role, and in previous roles, I have had experience with atypical young children and their families, and in assessment, intervention, program development, management, community collaboration, research, and teaching.

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, McMaster University. My research interests include infant/child development, atypical development, parent-child interaction, infant attachment security, early intervention, and program evaluation.

I have developed and evaluated a number of interventions for families of young children, including: (1) a course for parents of toddlers intended to prevent disruptive behaviour disorders; (2) a collaborative early intervention to prevent out-of-home placement of children with developmental disabilities; (3) a multi-agency service for mothers with substance abuse issues and their young children; and (4) a unique attachment-based course for parents of at-risk infants. I have trained more than 1,000 professionals in Canada, the U.S. and Sweden to conduct this course, and I received an award for contribution to the field from the Ontario Association for Infant Development.

Selected Publications

Niccols, A. & Sword, W. (2005). “New Choices” for substance using mothers and their young children: Preliminary evaluation. Feature article in Journal of Substance Use, 10(4).

Niccols, A. (2004). An Ounce of prevention: COPEing with Toddler Behaviour.  Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 49: 869.

Sword, W., Niccols, A. & Fan, A. (2004). “New Choices” for women with addictions: Perceptions of program participants. BioMed Central Public Health Journal 4: 10-20.

Niccols, A., Atkinson, L. & Pepler, D. (2003). Mastery motivation in young children with Down syndrome: Relations with adaptive and cognitive competence.  Journal of Intellectual Disability Research 47: 121-133.

Brian, J.A., Landry, R., Szatmari, P., Niccols, A. & Bryson, S.E. (2003).  Habituation in high-risk infants: Reliability and patterns of responding. Infant and Child Development 12: 387-394.

Niccols, A. & Latchman, A. (2002). Stability of the Bayley Mental Scale of Infant Development with high risk infants. British Journal of Developmental Disabilities 48: 3-13.

Atkinson, L., Niccols, A., Paglia, A., Coolbear, J., Parker, K.C.H., Poulton, L., Guger S. & Sitarenios, G. (2000). A meta-analysis of time between maternal sensitivity and attachment assessments: Implications for internal working models in infancy/toddlerhood. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 17: 791-810.

Atkinson, L., Paglia, A., Coolbear, J., Niccols, A., Parker, K.C.H. & Guger, S. (2000). Attachment security: A meta-analysis of maternal mental health correlates. Clinical Psychology Review 20: 1019-1040.

Atkinson, L., Paglia, A., Coolbear, J., Niccols, A., Poulton, L., Leung, E. & Chisholm, V.C. (2000). Assessing maternal sensitivity in the context of attachment security: A meta-analysis. In G.M. Tarabulsy, S. Larose, D.R. Pederson, & G. Moran.  (Eds.), Attachement et developpement:  Petite et jeune enfance. (Attachment and development:  Infancy and the preschool years.): 27-56. Quebec, Canada: Presses de l'Université du Quebec.

Niccols, A. & Mohammed, S. (2000). Parent-child interaction skills training in groups: Pilot study with parents of infants with developmental delay.  Journal of Early Intervention 23: 59-69.

Niccols, A. (2000, Fall).  Right from the Start: An Attachment-based course for parents.  IMPrint, Newsletter of the Infant Mental Health Promotion Project 28: 2-6.

Louis Schmidt is an Associate Professor of Psychology at McMaster University, Hamilton. He holds a Ph.D. in Child Development from the University of Maryland. His research interests include socio-emotional development in typical and special populations, human social and affective neuroscience, developmental psychophysiology, developmental psychopathology.

His current work includes: (1) a study funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to look at whether differences in the brain may affect the socio-emotional development of children, making them shy, fearful, anxious or aggressive; (2) a study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) examining the early precursors of social withdrawal and aggressive behaviour; and (3) with fellow Offord Centre colleague Tracy Vaillancourt, a SSHRC-funded study to develop a community-based approach to bullying.

Selected publications

Books and Special Collections

Schmidt, L.A. & Segalowitz, S.J. (Editors). (Under contract, to be published in 2006). Developmental Psychophysiology: Theory, Systems, and Methods. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Schmidt, L.A. (Guest Editor). (2003). Affective Neuroscience. [Special Issue]. Brain and Cognition, 52(1), 1-133.

Schmidt, L.A. & Schulkin, J. (Editors). (1999). Extreme Fear, Shyness, and Social Phobia: Origins, Biological Mechanisms, and Clinical Outcomes (pp. x-311) (Series in Affective Science). New York: Oxford University Press.

Contributions to books

Schmidt, L.A., Polak, C.P. & Spooner, A.L. (2005). Biological and environmental contributions to childhood shyness: A diathesis-stress model. In W.R. Crozier & L.E. Alden (Eds.), The Essential Handbook of Social Anxiety for Clinicians (pp. 33-55). United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.

Schmidt, L.A., Waldstein, S.R. & Santesso, D.L. (2003). A frontal activation model of emotion regulation: Developmental implications. In F. Boller & J. Grafman (Section Editors), S.J. Segalowitz & I. Rapin (Volume Editors), Handbook of Neuropsychology, 2nd Edition, (Volume 8, Part II, pp. 803-816). New York: Elsevier Science.

Journal articles

Spere, K.A., Schmidt, L.A., Theall-Honey, L.A. & Martin-Chang, S. (2004). Expressive and receptive language skills of temperamentally shy preschoolers. Infant and Child Development, 13, 123-133.

Schmidt, L.A., Cote, K.A., Santesso, D.L. & Milner, C.E. (2003). Frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry during sleep: Stability and its relation to affective style. Emotion, 3, 401-407.

Schmidt, L.A., Fox, N.A., Perez-Edgar, K., Hu, S. & Hamer, D.H. (2001). Association of DRD4 with attention problems in normal childhood development. Psychiatric Genetics, 11, 25-29.

Schmidt, L.A., Fox, N.A., Schulkin, J. & Gold, P.W. (1999). Behavioral and psychophysiological correlates of self-presentation in temperamentally shy children. Developmental Psychobiology, 35, 119-135.

Schmidt, L.A. (1999). Frontal brain electrical activity in shyness and sociability. Psychological Science, 10, 316-320.

Schmidt, L.A., Fox, N.A., Rubin, K.H., Sternberg, E.M., Gold, P.W., Smith, C.C. & Schulkin, J. (1997). Behavioral and neuroendocrine responses in shy children. Developmental Psychobiology, 30, 127-140.

Noam Soreni is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University.  He is a member of the Imaging Research Centre at St. Joseph's Healthcare, Hamilton, and of the Brain-Body Institute, a joint initiative between McMaster and St. Joseph’s, which uses MRI technology to study the interaction and impact of environmental factors, including stress, early life experiences and early microbial exposure on the brain and nervous system.

Dr. Soreni’s research interests include metabolic brain imaging of childhood anxiety disorders, with a particular focus on early onset obsessive-compulsive disorder.  He is also involved in developing screening and assessment procedures for children who are referred for treatment in regional mental health clinics.

Dr. Soreni’s clinical work includes consulting to the Integrated Mental Health Team, McMaster Children’s Hospital, Chedoke Site, and to the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, Hamilton.

Selected publications

Soreni N, Noseworthy MD, Cormier T, Oakden WK, Bells S, Schachar R (2006). Intraindividual variability of striatal (1)H-MRS brain metabolite measurements at 3T. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging 24: 187-194.

Cohen E, Soreni N, Kaplan O, Weizman A., Kikinzon L, Weiner I, Lubow RE (2004). The relation between latent inhibition and symptom-types in young schizophrenics. Behavioural Brain Research 149: 113-122.

Soreni N, Weizman A, Weiss M (2004). Beneficial effects of gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue treatment on positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a case report. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 65: 1020-1021.

Apter A, Horesh N, Gothelf D, Zalsman G, Erlich Z, Soreni N, Weizman A (2003). Depression and suicidal behavior in adolescent inpatients with obsessive compulsive disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders 75: 181-189.

Gothelf D, Soreni N, Nachman RP, Tyano S, Hiss Y, Reiner O, Weizman A (2000). Evidence for the involvement of the hippocampus in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. European Neuropsychopharmacology 10:389-395.

Soreni N, Apter A, Weizman A, Don-Tufeled O, Leschiner S, Karp L, Gavish M (1999). Decreased platelet peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor in adolescents with repeated suicide attempts. Biological Psychiatry, 46: 484-488.

Tracy Vaillancourt is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University, Hamilton.

Her research interests include the development of aggression and its link to social status and psychopathology. She is also actively engaged in research that deals with bullying and peer victimization and the relation between these types of problematic peer interactions to bio-psychosocial functioning. 

She was recently awarded a $1 million grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHERC) to develop a community-based approach to bullying, a problem that affects almost one in three school-aged children. Her project will enlist physicians, teachers, youth workers, police officers, policy makers and others in a community-wide effort to develop new strategies to deal with this problem.

Selected publications

Vaillancourt, T. & Hymel, S. (accepted). Aggression and social status: The moderating roles of sex and peer-valued characteristics. Aggressive Behavior.

Vaillancourt, T. & Igneski, V. (in press). Addressing ethical issues in the study of suicidal behavior in children and adolescents: Best practices recommendations. In B. Leadbeater et al. (Eds.) Ethics of research with high-risk children. University of Toronto Press.

Côté, S., Vaillancourt, T., LeBlanc, J., Nagin, D.S. & Tremblay, R.E. (in press). The development of physical aggression from toddlerhood to pre-adolescence:
A nationwide longitudinal study of Canadian children.  Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology.

Vaillancourt, T. (2005). Indirect aggression among humans: Social construct or evolutionary adaptation? In R.E. Tremblay, W.H. Hartup, and J. Archer (eds.) Developmental origins of aggression. NY: Guilford Press.

Vaillancourt, T. & Hymel, S. (2004). The social context of children aggression. In M. Moretti, M. Jackson, & C. Odgers (Eds.) Girls and aggression: Contributing factors and intervention principles. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Vaillancourt, T., Brendgen, M., Boivin, M. & Tremblay, R. (2003). Longitudinal Confirmatory factor analysis of indirect and physical aggression: Evidence of two factors over time? Child Development 74: 1628-1638.

Vaillancourt, T., Hymel, S. & McDougall, P. (2003). Bullying is power: Implications for school-based intervention strategies. Journal of Applied School Psychology 19: 157-17. (Also in M. Elias & J. Zins (Eds.) Bullying, peer harassment, and victimization in the schools: The next generation of prevention. Haworth Press, NY.