Area of expertise/interest: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Dr. Szatmari has devoted his career to understanding how children with autism spectrum disorders grow and develop over time, what promotes good outcomes, how we can improve diagnosis, and what causes the disorder. Perhaps his most important contribution has been to provide the field with a deeper appreciation of the wide variability in both the causes of ASD and its presentation over the lifespan.

Presently, Dr. Szatmari is conducting a study of the genetics of autism (supported by CIHR) that is part of the Autism Genome Project, an international collaboration to try and identify the genes that cause the disorder. He is also conducting a study of co-morbid anxiety and mood disorders in Asperger Syndrome and Autism that onset in adolescence. With colleagues Dr. Susan Bryson and Dr. Eric Fombonne, he is conducting a Canada-wide study of how children with Autism Spectrum Disorder develop over time, from the initial diagnosis until Grade 1. With Dr. Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Dr. Szatmari is involved in identifying early markers in infant siblings of children with ASD.

Dr. Szatmari received The George Tarjan Award for Contributions in Developmental Disabilities from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2009. In 2010 he received the Excellence in Research Mentorship Award, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences from McMaster University, the Mentoring/Supervision Excellence Award, Department of Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McMaster University, and the Dalhousie Award presented at the Canadian Academy of Child Psychiatry Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario.

Selected Publications

Articles:

Vieland VJ, Hallmayer J, Huang Y, Pagnamenta at, Pinto D, Khan H, Monaco AP, Paterson AD, Scherer SW, Sutcliffe JS, Szatmari P. (2011). The Autism Genome Project (AGP). Novel method for combined linkage and genome-wide association analysis finds evidence of distinct genetic architecture for two subtypes of autism. J Neurodev Disord, 3(2), 113-123.

Szatmari P. (2011). New Recommendations on Autism Spectrum Disorder. BMJ, 342;d2456.

Szatmari P. (2011). Is autism, at least in part, a disorder of fetal programming? Editorial for Archives of General Psychiatry Epub July.

Szatmari P, Bryson S, Duku E, Vaccarella L, Zwaigenbaum L, Bennett TA, Boyle MH. (2009) Similar developmental Trajectories in autism and Asperger Syndrome: from early childhood to adolescence. J Child Psychol Psychiatry, Dec 50(12) 1459-1467.

The Autism Genome Project Consortium. Szatmari P. (2007). Mapping autism risk loci using genetic linkage and chromosomal rearrangements. Nature Genetics, 39(3):319-328.

Books:

Szatmari P. (2004). A Mind Apart; Understanding Children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Guilford Press, New York City.

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.

Area of expertise/interest: the developmental influences on child health and behaviour over the early life-course.

Dr. Boyle has made important contributions to child health in identifying the determinants of health and functioning among children and adolescents; influencing government health policy and the allocation of resources to prevention programs; and increasing the efficiency and validity of epidemiological research on children.
Dr. Boyle and the late Dr. Dan Offord did the first, large-scale observational study of children in families ever conducted in Canada: the Ontario Child Health Study (OCHS). The 1983 Ontario-wide epidemiological study of psychiatric disorder in children set methodological standards for community studies and influenced resource allocation and health services by raising the profile of mental health problems in children. Follow-up studies were done in 1987 and 2000 and a sequel study involving many collaborators is proposed for 2013.

Other notable research studies include: Helping Children Adjust - A Tri-Ministry Study (1991-1998) that developed and evaluated universal programs for preventing aggressive, antisocial behaviour among children in the junior division of elementary schools and impacted curriculum in elementary schools; and Community Action Program for Children (CAPC: 1992-2001) a nationally sponsored community-based initiative to improve the health and functioning of children aged 0-6 and their families living in conditions of socio-economic risk in Canada.

Dr. Boyle’s interest in developmental influences extends to the developing world where a series of studies, Contextual Influences on Health and Behaviour (2001 to 2010), examined the effects of migration, polygamy and women’s education on child growth as well as women’s protective behaviour associated with AIDS prevention.
His longstanding interest in Measurement and Classification of Child Psychopathology (1987-2010) most recently involved the evaluation of the Brief Child and Family Phone Interview. The instrument, used to screen for child psychiatric disorder at intake to children’s mental health services, is now in wide-spread use through Canada and in Sweden.

In 2009 Dr. Boyle was awarded the Michael Smith Prize for Health Research by CIHR for his high degree of innovation, creativity, leadership and dedication in health research. 

Selected publications

Boyle MH, Miskovic V, Van Lieshout R, Duncan L, Schmidt LA, Hoult L, Paneth N, Saigal S. (2011). Psychopathology in young adults born at extremely low birth weight. Psychological Medicine, 41(8), 1763-1774.

Dirks M, Boyle MH, Georgiades K. (2011). Psychological symptoms in youth and later socioeconomic functioning: Do associations vary by informant? Journal of Clinical Child Psychology. 40(1), 10-22.

Omariba DWR, Boyle MH (2010). Rural-urban migration and cross-national variation in child mortality in less developed countries. Population Research & Policy Review, 29, 275-296.

Boyle MH, Georgiades K. (2010), Chapter 10. Perspectives on child psychiatric disorder in Canada (pp. 205-226). In: Cairney, J. & Streiner, D. Mental Disorder in Canada: An Epidemiologic Perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Boyle MH, Georgiades K, Cullen J, Racine Y. (2009). The influence of women’s education on intimate partner violence directed towards women in India. Social Science and Medicine, 69, 691–697.

Area of interest or expertise: the impact of motor coordination difficulties on the physical, mental and psychosocial well-being of children. Also Dr Cairney is investigating the social determinants of health in children and youth, particularly as they affect mental health.

Dr. Cairney conducts research on the impact of motor coordination problems on children’s physical and mental health, seeking a better understanding of the health consequences of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and the influence this condition has on development during childhood and adolescence. The role that motor coordination plays in healthy development is often overlooked.  Children with DCD are at increased risk of obesity and other cardiovascular related problems, and emotional-behavioural problems. 

Dr. Cairney also leads a large validation study of the Nippissing District Developmental Screening tool (with Dr. Jean Clinton and Dr. Peter Szatmari). The NDDS is used throughout the province of Ontario (and internationally) to identify developmental concerns in children one month to 6 years of age, yet there is little research on the psychometric properties of the scale.

From 2005 to 2008, Dr. Cairney held a Canada Research Chair in Psychiatric Epidemiology from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and was a Senior Scientist in the Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). He was the youngest scientist to be awarded a Canada Research Chair at CAMH, and the youngest member of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto to hold such a distinction. He has received numerous awards for his scholarly achievements, and has twice been nominated for the prestigious Canada's Top 40 under 40 Award.

Selected publications

Articles:

Rivilis I, Cairney J, Hay JA, Klentrou N, Faught BE. (2011). Physical activity and fitness in children with developmental coordination disorder: a systematic review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(3):894-910.

Cairney J, Hay JA, Veldhuizen S, Faught BE. (2011). Assessing body composition using whole body air-displacement plethysmography in children with and without developmental coordination disorder. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(2):830-5.

Cairney J, Hay JA, Veldhuizen S, Missiuna C, Mahlberg N, Faught BE.(2010). Trajectories of relative weight and waist circumference in children with and without developmental coordination disorder. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 82(11):1167-72

Cairney J, Veldhuizen S, Szatmari P. (2010). Motor coordination and emotional-behavioral problems in children. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 23(4):324-9.

Cairney J, Hay JA, Veldhuizen S, Missiuna C, Faught BE. (2010). Developmental coordination disorder, gender and the activity deficit over time: A longitudinal analysis. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 52(3); e67-e72.

Books:

Cairney J, Streiner DL. (Eds) (2010). Mental Disorders in Canada: an epidemiological perspective. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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.

Area of expertise/interest: the sociology of education

Dr. Davies has done many studies on the emergence of inequalities among students at various levels from preschool to post secondary levels. He is currently investigating the extent that achievements gaps between more and less affluent students can be explained by their different experiences during non-school time – evenings, weekends, and summers. Achievement gaps by socioeconomic background tend to widen as students age, but it is unclear whether these gaps emerge most during the school year or during the summer. His largest study is examining the rates of summer literacy loss and gain among primary school students, and the impact of summer interventions. The answer can affect where resources are best directed, and whether interventions during non-school time can offer new promise for reducing achievement gaps.

Selected Publications

Articles:
Davies S, Aurini J. (2011). “School Choice in Canada: Who Chooses What and Why?” Canadian Public Policy.

Davies S, Zarifa D. (2011). “The Stratification of Universities: Structural Inequality in Canadian and American Higher Education.” Research in Social Stratification and Mobility.

Davies S, Aurini J. (2010). The Ontario Summer Learning Literacy Project 2010 (Phase II). Council of Directors of Education, for the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat.

Davies S, Maldonado V. (2009).“Changing Times, Stubborn Disparities: Explaining Socio-economic Stratification in Canadian Schooling.”Chapter 11, p158-170 in Social Inequality in Canada: Patterns, Problems, and Policies (5th edition) edited by Edward Grabb and Neil Guppy. Toronto: Prentice Hall.

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

Books:
Davies S, Guppy N. (2010). The Schooled Society: An Introduction to the Sociology of Education (second edition). Toronto: Oxford University Press.

Area of expertise/interest: the economics of education and health.

Dr. Dooley authored a series of papers on the role of socioeconomic status in child health and development. He is currently examining secondary and post-secondary education to determine the individual, neighbourhood and high school characteristics that most influence access to and success in university.

Selected Publications

Articles:
Card D, Dooley M, Payne A, “School Competition and Efficiency with Publicly Funded Catholic Schools" American Economic Review: Applied Economics, forthcoming.

Contoyannis P, Dooley M. (2010). "The Role of Child Health And Economic Status In Educational, Health And Labour Market Outcomes In Young Adulthood" Canadian Journal of Economics, 43, 1: 323-346.

Dooley M, Stewart J. (2007). “Family Income, Parenting Styles and Child Behavioural-Emotional Outcomes.” Health Economics, 16, 2: 145-162.

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

Area of expertise/interest: applied statistics, growth curve modeling, structural equation modeling, measurement Invariance and cross-cultural validation of instruments, Rasch analysis, international research and fieldwork in early child development.

Mr. Duku, a Professional Statistician is interested in issues related to measurement in early child development research. Measurement invariance is an important aspect of the research process and is often overlooked.

Since 2008 Mr. Duku has been part of a team invited by UNICEF to design and test a set of questions as a simple indicator of early child development for use in household surveys in developing countries. The final set of items designed by the team is a core component of the Early Childhood Multi-Cluster Indicator Survey (MCIS) Module used in more than 50 countries. It provides countries with the opportunity to monitor progress toward national goals and global commitments.

As part of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) Research team, Mr. Duku is involved in the design, implementation and statistical analyses for local, national and international implementations of the EDI and cross-national validity of the EDI.

Selected Publications

Articles:
Janus M, Brinkman S A, Duku E K. (2011). Validity and psychometric properties of the Early Development Instrument in Canada, Australia, United States, and Jamaica. Social Indicators Research. Advance online publication.

Liu X-Q, Georgiades S, Duku E. Thompson A., Devlin B., Cook E.H., Wijsman E.M., Paterson A.D., Szatmari P. (2011). Identification of genetic Loci underlying the phenotypic constructs of autism spectrum disorders. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Jul; 50(7):687-696.e13.

Volden J, Smith I M, Szatmari P, Bryson S, Fombonne E, Mirenda P, Roberts W, Vaillancourt T, Waddell C, Zwaigenbaum L, Georgiades S, Duku E, Thompson A. (2011) Using the Preschool Language Scale-IV to Characterize Language in Preschoolers with ASD. Am J Speech Lang Pathol.

Georgiades S, Szatmari P, Duku E, Zwaigenbaum L, Bryson S, Roberts W, Fombonne E, Mirenda P, Smith I, Vaillancourt T, Volden J, Waddell C, Thompson A, and the Pathways in ASD Study Team. (2010). Phenotypic Overlap Between Core Diagnostic Features and Emotional/Behavioral Problems in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord.

Mirenda P, Smith I M, Vaillancourt T, Georgiades S, Duku E, Szatmari P, Bryson S, Fombonne E, Roberts W, Volden J, Waddell C, Zwaigenbaum L, and the Pathways in ASD Study Team. (2010). Validating the Repetitive Behavior Scale-revised in young children with autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 40(12):1521-30.

Books:
Janus M, Brinkman S, Duku E, Hertzman C, Santos R, Sayers M, Schroeder J. (2007). The Early Development Instrument: A Population-based measure for communities. A handbook on development, properties, and use. (Available at: http://www.offordcentre.com/readiness).

Area of expertise/interest: socio-economic inequalities in health in urban areas.

Dr. Dunn's current research includes:

• an international study of the relationship between income distribution (or income inequality) and population health in North American metropolitan areas from 1990-present;
• a study of the effects of the Regent Park redevelopment on adult mental health and children's healthy development. Regent Park is a 69-acre public housing development in Toronto - one of Canada's oldest and largest - which will be demolished and re-built into a mixed income community over the next 10-12 years;
• a large study of the effects of receiving rent-geared-to-income social housing adult mental health and children's healthy development in Hamilton, Halton, Peel and Toronto;
• a demonstration project funded by the Mental Health Commission of Canada examining the effects of supported housing for people with mental illness on health, quality of life and health care utilization studies of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity, obesity and diabetes in Canadian urban areas;

Dr. Jim Dunn is a Fellow in the Successful Societies Program of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR - www.cifar.ca). He is Deputy Editor of the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Housing, Theory & Society, Social Science and Medicine and Health Reports. He has been a scientific advisor to a number of policy-related bodies, including the Privy Council Office of Canada, Health Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care, the National Housing Research Committee of Canada and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.

Selected Publications

Articles:

Parsons JA, Singh G, Scott AN, Nisenbaum R, Balasubramaniam P, Jabbar A, Zaidi Q, Sheppard A, Ramsay J, O'Campo P, and Dunn JR. (2010). Standardized observation of neighbourhood disorder: does it work in Canada? International Journal of Health Geographics, 2010, 9(6). doi:10.1186/1476-072X-9-6

Dunn JR. (2009). Neighbourhoods, housing and health. In: Kitchen, R. and Thrift, N. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Vol. 5. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 201-206.

Dunn JR, Schaefer-McDaniel N, & Ramsay J. (2009). Neighborhood chaos and children's development: Questions and contradictions. In: Evans, G.W. and Wachs, T. (eds). Chaos and its influence on children's development: An ecological perspective. APA Press.

Dunn JR, & Ross NA. 2009. 'Public goods', metropolitan inequality and population health in comparative perspective: Policy & theory. In: Babones, S. (ed.) The New Public Health of Social Inequality: Pathways and Evidence. Bristol: Policy Press.

Bush KR, Henderson EA, Dunn JR, Read RR, & Singh A. 2008. Mapping the core: Chlamydia and gonorrhea infections in Calgary, Alberta. Sexually Transmitted Diseases 35(3): 291-297.

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.

Areas of expertise/interest: nurse home visitation, with a particular focus on the Nurse-Family Partnership intervention, prevention of family violence, including child maltreatment and intimate partner violence, knowledge transfer and exchange, qualitative research methods; mixed methods

Dr. Jack has contributed significantly to the development of a nursing intervention and nursing curriculum, specific to the Nurse-Family Partnership program, to identify and respond to intimate partner violence within the home visiting context. Exposure to violence, either child maltreatment or intimate partner violence, significantly impacts physical and mental health outcomes for young children. As part of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), public health nurses home visit young, low-income first-time mothers from early in pregnancy until their child’s second birthday. The NFP has found to be effective in improving health outcomes for families and preventing child abuse and neglect in other jurisdictions. Dr. Jack is now involved in answering the question, “In Canada, will the NFP be effective in improving maternal and child health outcomes?”

Dr. Jack is a Principal Investigator evaluating the effectiveness of the NFP intimate partner violence intervention in British Columbia, and leading the study to evaluate the acceptability of the NFP intervention in Hamilton, the first Canadian site to pilot this evidence-based nursing intervention. She is also evaluating the NFP intimate partner violence intervention in a randomized controlled trial in multiple U.S. sites

Dr. Jack holds the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, Reproduction and Child Health New Investigator Personnel Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Selected Publications

Articles:

Williams G, Tonmyr L, Jack SM, Fallon B, MacMillan H. (2011). Determinants of maltreatment substantiation in a sample of infants involved with the child welfare system. Children and Youth Services Review, 33, 1345-1353.

Jack SM. (2010). A public health approach for addressing child maltreatment in Canada. Chronic Diseases in Canada, 31(1), 39-44.

Jack SM, Dobbins M, Tonmyr L, Brooks S, Dudding P, Kennedy B. (2010).Research evidence utilization in policy development by child welfare administrators. Child Welfare, 89(4), 83-100.

Jack SM, Jamieson E, Wathen CN, MacMillan HL. (2008). The feasibility of screening for intimate partner violence in postpartum nurse home visits. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 40(2), 150-170.

Area of expertise/interest: early child development. What factors contribute to a child’s optimal development during the first eight years of life, from the perspective of the child, the family, and the community?

Dr. Janus’ work is directed at achieving a better understanding of children’s developmental pathways, how they are shaped, whether these pathways are different in different communities, provinces or countries and whether population-based programs make a difference for all children, not just those few receiving clinical interventions.

Dr. Janus and the late Dr. Dan Offord are recognized for the development and implementation of the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The EDI is a tool used in jurisdictions around the world for reporting on child developmental health at school entry for populations of children. The EDI enables communities to monitor child development status over time.

Dr Janus’ work with the EDI in Canada and elsewhere led to her participation in a team invited by UNICEF to design a simple indicator of early child development to be used in the household surveys in developing countries. Data on the index developed by the team are now being collected in approximately 50 countries that have implemented the household survey.

She is also doing research on transition to school for children with special needs. This includes investigating the approach being taken to assess children’s needs in order to provide the best services (using the International Classification of Function for Children and Youth – ICF-CY).
In 2009, Dr. Janus received the Champion of Innovation Award from McMaster University.

Selected Publications & Presentations

Articles:

Janus, M. (in press) Impact of impairment on children with special needs at school entry: Comparison of school readiness outcomes in Canada, Australia, and Mexico. Exceptionality Education International.

Janus M, Brinkman S, Duku, E. (2011).Validity and psychometric properties of Early Development Instrument in Canada, Australia, United States, and Jamaica. Social Indicators Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s11205-011-9846-1.

Muhajarine N, Puchala C, Janus M. School readiness in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children: Does EDI capture real differences? Social Indicators Research. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s11205-011-9847-0.

Raos R, Janus M. (2010). Examining spatial variations in the prevalence of behaviour problems among 5-year-old children in Canada. Social Science and Medicine, 72(3), 383-388.

Janus M. Kopechanski L, Cameron R, Hughes D. (2008). In transition: Experiences of parents of children with special needs at school entry. Early Childhood Education Journal, 35 (5), 479-485.

Books/chapters:

Janus M. (2011). Transition to school: Child, family, and community-level determinants. In: Laverick, D.M., & Jalongo, M.R. (eds.), Transitions to early care and education. Educating the young child, 4(3), (pp. 177-187).

Janus, M. (2010). Estimating behaviour problems in kindergarten children based on population-level data. Pp 197-202 In Proceedings from the XIV European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Zukauskiene, R. (Ed.), Medimond, Bologna, Italy.

Janus M, Brinkman S, Duku E, Hertzman C, Santos R, Sayers M & Schroeder J. (2007). The Early Development Instrument: A Population-based measure for communities. A handbook on development, properties, and use. Offord Centre for Child Studies, Hamilton, ON. Also available at: http://www.offordcentre.com/readiness

Area of expertise/interest: single-parent families, disadvantaged children, group therapies, effectiveness studies, child and adolescent psychiatry, and epidemiology.
Much of Dr. Lipman’s research is focused on the evaluation of programs in the community. The challenge of these effectiveness studies are that researchers must ensure methodologic and scientific rigor and complete the study in a real-world environment, in contrast to studies done where many/most study parameters can be controlled.

Currently Dr. Lipman is evaluating the impact of participation in The Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) Adult Mentoring Program (supported by CIHR) to determine for whom and under what conditions community match programs achieve the greatest benefits. The study involving children and parents from 20 agencies across Canada, will examine how long match relationships must last, the optimal amount of weekly contact, types of shared activities, and styles of mentoring most conducive to positive change as well as the Agency practices/procedures that contribute to successful matches.

Dr. Lipman is also interested in evaluating web-based delivery of support/education groups to women in remote areas, and increasing knowledge about the prevalence of mental health problems and health service utilization among teen mothers.

Selected Publications

Articles:

Lipman EL, Kenny M, Brennan E, O’Grady S, Augimeri L. (2011). Helping boys at-risk of criminal activity: qualitative results of a multi-component intervention. BMC Public Health, 11:364.

Lipman EL, Georgiades K, Boyle MH. (2011). Young adult outcomes of children born to teen mothers: effects of being born during their teens or later years. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 50:232-241.

Lipman EL, Kenny M, Cameron R, Secord M, Carter P, Byrne C. (2010). Understanding how education/support groups help single mothers. BMC Public Health, 10:4.

Georgiades, K, Boyle MH, Jenkins JM, Sanford, M, Lipman EL. (2008). A multilevel analysis of whole family functioning using the McMaster Family Assessment Device. Journal of Family Psychology, 22:344-354.

Lipman EL, Kenny M, Sniderman C, O’Grady S, Augimeri L, Khayutin S, Boyle MH. (2008). Evaluation of a community-based program for young boys at-risk of antisocial behaviour: results and issues. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 17:12-19.

Books:

Lipman EL, Mills B. Parenting Issues. In: D. Goldbloom and J Davine (eds). Psychiatry In Primary Care: A Concise Canadian Pocket Guide. Centre for Addictions and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada. In Press.

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.

Area of expertise or interest: Family violence research, including prevention of child maltreatment and intimate partner violence.

Dr. MacMillan has contributed significantly in the evaluation of interventions aimed at preventing child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. Her work is focused on learning how we prevent children from experiencing all types of maltreatment, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, as well as exposure to intimate partner violence. Dr. MacMillan is also interested in determining how we can best help children who have been abused or neglected from experiencing mental health impairment.

Currently, she is working on a trial to evaluate a new intervention, the Nurse Family Partnership, to reduce intimate partner violence and child maltreatment as part of a home visitation program. Dr. MacMillan is also the nominated Principal Investigator for a CIHR-funded Centre for Research Development in Gender, Mental Health, and Violence across the Lifespan (PreVAiL).

Selected Publications

Articles:

MacMillan HL, Wathen CN, Jamieson E, Boyle MH, Shannon HS, Ford-Gilboe M, Worster A, Lent B, Coben JH, Campbell JC, McNutt LA. (2009). McMaster Violence Against Women Research Group. Screening for intimate partner violence in health care settings: a randomized trial. JAMA, 302:493-501.

MacMillan HL, Georgiades K, Duku E, Shea A, Steiner M, Niec A, Tanaka M, Gensey S, Spree S, Vella E, Walsh CA, De Bellis MD, Van der Meulen J, Boyle M, Schmidt, LA. (2009). Cortisol response to stress in female youths exposed to childhood maltreatment: Results of the Youth Mood Project. Biological Psychiatry, 66:62-68.

MacMillan HL, Wathen CN, Barlow J, Fergusson DM, Leventhal JM, Taussig HN. (2009). Interventions to prevent child maltreatment and associated impairment. Lancet, 373:250-266.

MacMillan HL, Jamieson E, Wathen CN, Boyle M, Walsh C, Omura J, Walker J, Lodenquai G. (2007). Development of a policy-relevant child maltreatment research strategy. The Milbank Quarterly, 85:337-74.

MacMillan HL, Wathen CN, Jamieson E, Boyle M, 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. JAMA, 296:530-536.

Areas of expertise/interest: Child development in atypical and at-risk populations, mental health in infants and young children, developmental psychopathology, parenting, parent-child interaction, and infant attachment security, infant/child and family assessment and treatment, evaluation of early intervention

Dr. Niccols’ contribution to improving the lives of children has come most significantly in the form of developing and evaluating interventions with families of high-risk infants. Examples include COPEing with Toddler Behaviour, which is a course for parents of toddlers intended to prevent disruptive behaviour disorders, New Choices, a multi-agency service for mothers with substance use issues and their young children, and the highly successful Right from the Start attachment-based course for parents of at-risk infants (see www.rfts.ca ). Dr. Niccols has conducted presentations on Right from the Start at national and international conferences and professional training sessions across Canada, the United States and Sweden. In 2011, Right from the Start was recognized as one of six leading practices recommended for national publication by Accreditation Canada.

Dr. Niccols was honoured with an award from the Ontario Association for Infant Development for her contribution to the field (2003), and with the Hamilton Week of the Child Award of Recognition (2003).

Selected Publications

Articles:

Niccols A, Dobbins M, Sword W, Smith A, Henderson J, Milligan K A. (2010). National survey of services for women with substance use issues and their children in Canada in 2007: Challenges for knowledge translation and exchange. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8(2),310-319.

Sword W, Jack S, Niccols A, Milligan K, Henderson J, Thabane L. (2009). Integrated programs for women with substance use issues and their children: A Qualitative meta-synthesis of processes and outcomes. Harm Reduction Journal, 6, 32-37.

Niccols A. (2009). Immediate and short-term outcomes of the “COPEing with Toddler Behaviour” parent group. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50(5), 617-626.

Niccols, A. (2008). “Right from the Start:” Randomised trial comparing an attachment group intervention to supportive home visiting. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(7), 754-764.

Niccols A, Sword W. (2005). “New Choices” for substance-using mothers and their young children: Preliminary evaluation. Journal of Substance Use, 10 (4), 239-251.

Book Chapters:

Niccols A, Thomas K, Schmidt LA. (2011).Socioemotional and brain development in children with genetic syndromes associated with developmental delay. In J.A. Burack, R.M. Hodapp, G. Iarocci, & E. Zigler (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Intellectual Disability and Development 2nd Ed. (pp. 254-274). New York: Oxford University Press.

Niccols A, Smith A. (in press). Maternal sensitivity and behavioral outcomes for young children with developmental delay. Invited submission to D.W. Davis & M.C. Logsdon (Eds.) Maternal Sensitivity: A Scientific Foundation for Practice. City: Nova Science.

Area of expertise/interest: early experiences, temperament, socioemotional development, developmental psychopathology, developmental psychophysiology

Dr. Schmidt is currently studying the neuropsychiatric and mental health outcomes of extremely low birthweight. The study continues an extensive study of extremely low birth weight babies who were born between 1977 and 1982, started and followed longitudinally br Dr. Saroj Saigal. It will  determine the challenges these surviving babies face as adults and reveal information about the impact of early adversity on brain-behaviour relations, the development of psychopathology, and it will provide some insight into how plastic the brain is, and how and if recovery is possible.

Selected publications

Articles:

Miskovic V, Moscovitch DA, Santesso DL, McCabe RE, Antony MM,  Schmidt LA. (2011). Changes in EEG cross-frequency coupling during cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder. Psychological Science, 22, 507-516.

Schmidt LA, Fox NA, Perez-Edgar K, Hamer DH. (2009). Linking gene, brain, and behavior: DRD4, frontal asymmetry, and temperament. Psychological Science, 20, 831-837.

Beaton EA, Schmidt, LA, Schulkin J, Antony M M, Swinson R P,  Hall G B. (2008). Different neural responses to stranger and personally familiar faces in shy and bold adults. Behavioral Neuroscience, 122, 704-709.

Schmidt LA, Cote KA, Santesso DL,  Milner CE. (2003). Frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry during sleep: Stability and its relation to affective style. Emotion, 3, 401-407.

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

Books:

Schmidt LA,  Segalowitz SJ. (Editors)  (2008). Developmental Psychophysiology: Theory, Systems, and Methods (pp. xxii-462).  New York:  Cambridge University Press.

Schmidt LA. (Guest Editor) (2007). Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives.  [Special Issue]  Brain and Cognition, 65(1), 1-142.

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

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

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.

Area of expertise/interest: peer victimization and aggression and children’s mental health. 

Through her work Dr. Vaillancourt is trying to show how damaging bullying is to children and youth. 

For decades, bullying has been considered by many to be a normal part of childhood – a “rite of passage” that can help to “toughen kids up” or “build character.” Common sense tells us that being bullied hurts. However, Dr. Vaillancourt’s research has shown that bullying affects children’s mental health. Bullying is associated with cortisol (stress hormone) dysregulation which in turn negatively impacts memory.

Currently, Dr. Vaillancourt is working on a large longitudinal study on peer victimization, mental health, and academic achievement in children.  The study, which began in 2008 when the participants were age 10, will follow these children to the age of 18.  Dr. Vaillancourt is also examining other biological correlates of peer victimization using EEG.

Selected publications

Articles:

Knack JM, Vaillancourt T.  (in press, 2011). Evidence of altered cortisol levels across child maltreatment, intimate partner abuse, and peer victimization.  In A.N. Hutcherson (ed.), Psychology of Victimization. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.  ISBN: 978-1-61470-505-5,

Vaillancourt T, Duku E, Becker S, Schmidt L, Nicol J, Muir C,  MacMillian H. (in press). Peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and high salivary cortisol predict poor memory in children.  Brain and Cognition.

Vaillancourt T, Boylan K. (2010). Behavioural and emotional disorders of childhood and adolescence. In D. Dozois & P. Firestone (Eds.), Abnormal psychology: Perspectives (4th edition) (pp. 370-390). Toronto: Pearson Education.

Vaillancourt T, Hymel S,  McDougall P. (2010). Why does being bullied hurt so much? Insights from neuroscience.  In Dorothy Espelage & Susan Swearer (eds.), Bullying in North American Schools, (pp.23-33). Taylor & Francis Group, Inc.

Vaillancourt  T, Duku E, deCatanzaro D, MacMillan H, Muir C, Schmidt LA. (2008). Variation in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity among bullied and non-bullied children.  Aggressive Behavior, 34, 294-305

Area of expertise/interest: child maltreatment, adolescent dating violence, adolescent mental health and substance use outcomes, trauma, violence prevention, prevention programs, female health outcomes

Dr. Wekerle is working to understand the mechanisms that underlie childhood maltreatment and adolescent and adult outcomes in order to enable better support as adolescents’ transition to adult roles. She led the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) study and related Knowledge Translation (KT) web portal implementation.  The MAP study is the first epidemiological and longitudinal study of child protection services youth of its size.

In this study, crucial health, demographics, risk factor, and outcome information were collected from more than 500 youth across a 3-year period. The related MAP KT web portal is a resource for the 50,000 members of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.

Her book Childhood Maltreatment: Advances in Psychotherapy: Evidence-Based Practice is an international bestseller in the Clinic Series by Hogrefe/Huber publishers, and was selected for the U.S. Association of Social Workers and Nurses for basic training in child maltreatment,. It is has been similarly tagged for use by the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.

Selected publications

Articles:

Wekerle C. (2011). Practical Strategies: The dollars and senselessness in failing to prioritize childhood maltreatment prevention. Child Abuse and Neglect, 35(3), 159 – 161.

Wekerle C,  Tanaka M. (2010). Adolescent dating violence research and violence prevention: an opportunity to support health outcomes. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 19(6), 681-698.

Wekerle C, Leung E, Goldstein A, Thornton T, Tonmyr L. (2009). Up Against A Wall: Coping with becoming a teen when you have been maltreated as a child. Sub-title: Substance use among adolescents in child welfare versus adolescents in the general population: A comparison of the Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) Longitudinal Study and the Ontario Student Drug Use Survey (OSDUS) datasets. London, ON. University of Western Ontario. Free report copies available from National Clearinghouse on Family Violence (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/pdfs/nfnts-ado-wallmur-eng.pdf)

Wekerle C, Leung E, MacMillan HL, Boyle M, Trocmé N, Waechter R. (2009). The impact of childhood emotional maltreatment on teen dating violence.  Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect. 33, 45-58.

Wekerle C, Wolfe DA, Hawkins DL, Pittman A-L, Glickman A, Lovald BE. (2001).  The value and contribution of youth self-reported maltreatment history to adolescent dating violence: Testing a trauma mediational model. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 847-871.

Books:

Wekerle C, Chen M, Leung E, Waechter R, and the MAP Research Team. (2011). The Maltreatment and Adolescent Pathways (MAP) Project: A community action health research project on child protective services-involved teens. In N. Trocmé, S. Léveillé, I. Brown and C. Chamberland (Eds). Research-Community Partnerships in Child Welfare (pp.59-90). Montreal: AB; on-line, Child Welfare Research Portal.

Area of expertise/interest: the development of mood related disturbances in adolescence using a framework that incorporates how children learn to regulate negative emotions in childhood, and gender differences in the presentation and course of mood and behavioural disturbances through puberty. 

In her graduate work, Dr. Boylan examined whether childhood oppositional behaviours could be an early form of mood disturbance. This work showed that oppositional behaviours more clearly precede the onset of depressive symptoms in boys than in girls.

It is difficult to identify mood disorders in younger children and early identification may lead to different and age sensitive approaches to treatment. For example, most children with behaviour problems currently receive parent focused interventions to help parents with the child’s behaviour. Dr. Boylan’s research suggests many of these children require concurrent treatment for emotional distress and distress management. How to deliver this treatment and to who is an important public health issue.

Currently Dr. Boylan is working on several epidemiologic analyses to further test how disruptive behaviours are related to mood and anxiety disturbance. Along with several international colleagues, Dr. Boylan is examining whether a new clinical presentation of “mood dysregulation” can be identified in childhood and whether affected children develop mood disorders in adolescence.

Selected publications

Articles:

Boylan K, Miller JL, Vaillancourt T, Szatmari P. (2011). Longitudinal factor of anxiety and depression: Invariance by time and sex. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Epidemiology

Boylan K, Georgiades K, Szatmari P. (2010). The longitudinal association between oppositional and depressive symptoms across childhood.   Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,  49:152-161.

van Lieshout R, Boylan K. (2010). Increased Depressive Symptoms in Female but not Male Adolescents Born at Low Birth Weight in the Offspring of a National Cohort. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 55;422-430.

Boylan K, Eppel A. (2008). The proposed severe mood dysregulation phenotype: Description of clinical presentation and course of treatment in two adolescents. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 17: 210-211.

Boylan K, Vaillancourt T, Boyle M, Szatmari, P. (2007). Comorbidity of internalizing disorders in children with oppositional defiant disorder. European Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 16:484-494.

Books:

Vaillancourt T, Boylan K. (2009). Disorders of childhood and adolescence. In Dozois DA, Firestone P. (Eds.) Abnormal Psychology: Perspectives Prentice Hall, Toronto.

Area of expertise/interest: consumer health information, knowledge mobilization, knowledge networks

Before becoming the first-ever Knowledge Mobilization Officer at the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, Don Buchanan spent 30+ years at McMaster Children’s Hospital in a variety of roles, mostly in child and youth mental health. He led the development of several innovative services, including the Family Resource Centre, the Community Education Service, and the Child and Youth Health Partnership. He has also worked as a knowledge exchange consultant to the McMaster Child Health Research Institute, the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health and the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Mr. Buchanan is interested in understanding how we can help educators learn more about mental health problems, and how to share useful classroom strategies that teachers and principals can use to improve achievement in students who are struggling with mental health problems.

Area of expertise/interest: Early childhood development, brain development and importance of relationships through infancy to adolescence and the enhanced 18-month well baby visit (physician education lead).

Dr Clinton is renowned locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally as an advocate for children’s issues. Her special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness plays in brain development. Dr. Clinton speaks to many groups, advocating the importance of relationships, early child development and brain development, parenting and asset building. In fact, she considers her most important contribution to be the translation of neuroscience and development into easily understandable and actionable knowledge for audiences such as parents, teachers, judges and children.

Dr. Clinton champions the development of a national, comprehensive child well-being strategy including a system of early learning and child care for all young children and their families, which she believes plays a vital role in promoting healthy human development. She is equally committed to ensuring that children’s and youths’ needs and voices are heard and respected, and she actively promotes the celebration of National Child Day.

Currently, as a member of Hamilton’s Best Start Network, Dr. Clinton leads the Primary Care Engagement Strategy for the enhanced 18-month-well-baby visit. She was a member of the Expert panel “Getting It Right at 18-Months…making it right for a lifetime” for the Provincial Best Start Initiative and is the Faculty Lead for the provincial primary care education strategy housed at the Offord Centre. She was a founding Board member and a Fellow of Dr Fraser Mustard’s Council for Early Child Development.

Selected publications

Articles:

Clinton JM. (2009). How has the science of early child development informed a child psychiatrist’s practice.Paediatric Child Health, 14, 671-672.

Clinton JM. (2009). Mental Health Issues in Children: A “Hidden” Epidemic? Leaders and Learners Journal Summer.

Clinton JM. (2008). Resilience and recovery. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality , 13, 213-222.

Williams R, Clinton J, Biscaro A. (2008). Ontario and the enhanced 18-month well baby visit: Trying new approaches. Paediatric Child Health ,13, 850-856.

Clinton JM. (2007). “Adolescent Brain Development” in OPP manual for Youth Officers - book chapter.

Books:

Clinton JM. (2009). Resilience and recovery.In J. Bellous (Ed). Children, Spirituality, Loss and Recovery.New York:Routledge.

Area of expertise/interest: improving the lives of children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD).

Dr. Missiuna has made significant contributions to the development of knowledge translation products and methods to increase awareness of children with DCD among parents, educators, physicians, health professionals and the community, improving the understanding of their characteristics and the secondary physical and mental health consequences that arise if their needs are unmet.

Dr. Missiuna is currently developing and evaluating an innovative model of health service delivery in school settings, called Partnering for Change. One child in every classroom has developmental coordination disorder, a motor-based learning problem that leads them to have difficulty performing everyday self-care and academic activities. Although many of these children are recognized by teachers, waitlists for occupational therapy services are long. Partnering for Change is being examined as a potential solution. Occupational therapists work in partnership with educators and parents to facilitate earlier identification of children with DCD and to build capacity within each school to support the successful participation of all children who have motor challenges (For more information: go to www.canchild.ca)

Selected publications

Articles:

Missiuna C, Cairney J, Pollock N, Russel D, Macdonald K, Cousins M, Schmidt L. (2011). A staged approach for identifying children with developmental coordination disorder from the population. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32, 549-559.

Zwicker J, Missiuna C, Harris SR, Boyd, LA. (2010). Brain activation of children with developmental coordination disorder is different than peers. Pediatrics, 126, e678-e686. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010.0059.

Missiuna C, Gaines R, McLean J, DeLaat D, Egan M, Soucie H. (2008). Description of children identified by physicians as having developmental coordination disorder. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 50(11), 839-44.

Missiuna C, Pollock N, Egan M, DeLaat D, Gaines R, Soucie H. (2008). Enabling occupation through facilitating the diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 75(1), 26-34. Also available at www.canchild.ca/Portals/0/references/pdf/DCD_CAOTarticle_Nov2007.pdf

Missiuna C, Gaines BR, Soucie H. (2006). Why every office needs a tennis ball: A new approach to assessing the clumsy child. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 175(5), 471-473. Also available online at: www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/175/5/471

Books:

Missiuna, C. (Ed). (2001). Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: Strategies for Success. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

Area of expertise/interest: Evidence-based early interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Dr. Reitzel established an evidence-based Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) as an early intervention program for young children with ASD for the Hamilton-Niagara Regional Autism Intervention Program. She has contributed significantly to identifying IBI treatment outcomes for children and families, looking at cognitive, language and adaptive behaviour functioning in children, and parenting stress and coping. She is also studying predictors of successful IBI outcomes for children and families. Dr. Reitzel is particularly interested in working with nonverbal children with ASD.

Some children with autism make significant developmental gains with IBI but unfortunately, not all children do. Dr. Reitzel is currently working on a study to find an intervention that is effective in improving day to day functional behavioural skills for these children. IBI is also costly and there are long waitlists of children who are in need of treatment. Since all children with autism deserve treatment based on their needs, Dr. Reitzel is working to find an effective alternative intervention for children with ASD and their families.

Dr. Reitzel serves on the Board of Directors for Autism Ontario.

Selected publications

Articles:

Reitzel J, Frei J, Summers J, Vaccarella L, Duku E, Lee D, Zwaigenbaum L, Szatmari P. (submitted for publication). The Early Learning Measure as a predictor of adaptive behaviour outcomes following Intensive Behavioral Intervention in young children with autism and intellectual disabilities

Perry A, Cummings A, Dunn Geier J, Freeman NL, Hughes S, LaRose L, Managhan T, Reitzel J, & Williams J. (2011). Predictors of outcome in children receiving intensive behavioural intervention in a large community-based program. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 592-603.

Van Adel JM, Dunn Geier J, Perry A, & Reitzel J. (2011). Credible Knowledge: A pilot evaluation of the GRADE method using parent-implemented interventions for children with autism. BMC Health Services Research.11:60, 1-12.

Perry A, Cummings A, Dunn Geier J, Freeman N, Hughes S, Larose L, Managhan T, Reitzel J, Williams J (2008). Effectiveness of Intensive Behavioral Intervention in a Large, Community-based Program. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2, 621-642.

Summers JA, Houlding CM, & Reitzel JM. (2003). Behaviour management services for children with autism/PDD: Program description and patterns of referral. Focus on Autism and other Developmental Disabilities, 19, 95-101.

Books:

Reitzel J & Szatmari P. (2003). Cognitive and academic problems. In M. Prior (Ed.), Learning and Behaviour Problems in Asperger Syndrome. (pp. 35-55). New York: Guilford Press.

Szatmari P, Reitzel J-A, "Autism intervention: Comments on Harris, and Bruinsma, Koegel and Kern Koegel". In Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development. Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development Website, 2006.

Area of expertise/interest: cerebral palsy – development and long-term outcomes, clinical and health status measurement, family well-being in the context of disability, processes of care/service delivery, knowledge translation

Dr. Rosenbaum was instrumental in the creation and dissemination of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), which is method for testing the severity of Cerebral Palsy. It is used around the world and has now been cited over 1000 times in the published literature. His published analogues include the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) and the Communication Function Classification System (CFCS), developed with international colleagues.

Dr. Rosenbaum and his colleagues at the Offord Centre and elsewhere, recently received CIHR funding to develop and validate an Autism Classification System of Functioning: Social Communication, and along with colleagues across Canada he is exploring issues concerning parenting of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Parenting is among the most challenging roles most people undertake. Parenting a child with a neurodevelopmental disability is believed to be considerably more challenging, yet not a lot is known about most aspects of this topic. The study will look at (a) the extensive literature on the topic, (b) parents’ long-term physical and mental health, marital stability, parenting beliefs, (c) reported parental behaviours and challenges, and (d) Canadian government policies concerning issues important to families raising children with disabilities. The findings are expected to lead to major opportunities for intervention and prevention of some of the known parental ‘morbidity’ associated with raising children with disabilities.

Dr. Rosenbaum has held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair since 2001. He was awarded an honorary degree by Université Laval in October 2005 and received the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine’s inaugural Mentorship Award in 2007. He is the North American Editor of Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology (since 2005).

Selected publications

Articles:

Brehaut JC, Garner RE, Miller AR, Lach LM, Klassen AF, Rosenbaum PL, Kohen DE. (In press 2011). Changes over time in the health of caregivers of children with health problems: Growth curve findings from a 10-year Canadian population-based study. American Journal of Public Health.

Rosenbaum PL, Palisano RJ, Bartlett DJ, Galuppi BE, Russell DJ. (2008). Developing the Gross Motor Function Classification System for Cerebral Palsy: Lessons and Implications for Classifying Function in Childhood Disability. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 50(4):249-53.

Rosenbaum P, Paneth N, Leviton A, Goldstein M, and Bax M. (2007). Definition and Classification Document, in The Definition and Classification of Cerebral Palsy (Ed Baxter P). Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, Supplement, January, 49(s2):8-14.

Brehaut J, Kohen D, Raina P, Walter S, Russell D, Swinton M, O’Donnell M, Rosenbaum P. (2004). The Health of Parents of Children with Cerebral Palsy: How Does It Compare to Other Canadian Adults? Pediatrics, 114 (2), August.

Rosenbaum PL, Walter SD, Hanna SE, Palisano RJ, Russell DJ, Raina R, Wood E, Bartlett D, Galuppi B. (2002) Prognosis for Gross Motor Function in Cerebral Palsy: Creation of Motor Development Curves. JAMA, 288 (Sept 18), No. 11:1357-1363.

Area of expertise or interest: early social perceptual development

The purpose of Dr. Rutherford’s research is to explore social perception, in three main areas: face perception, perception of animacy and the early social development of infants who may be at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Results from Dr. Rutherford’s lab have advanced our knowledge of the fundamental psychological processes underlying social perception. With a brief glance, we can quickly tell whether something is alive, or interpret a facial expression. Dr. Rutherford has discovered the cues that typical adults use to perceive animate motion, and differences in this perception in a group of adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Dr. Rutherford has also contributed to our understanding of how people with ASD look at faces. He has begun to use this information about group differences in social perception in a longitudinal study to try to characterize early development in autism. This project might potentially have some applied applications with respect to early screening and intervention with children developing with ASD.

Current studies in Dr. Rutherford’s labs are examing:

1. The development of the perception of animacy and goal directed behaviour. What are the fundamental building blocks of social perception? What cues do adults and infants use to divide the world into intentional and inanimate objects? How does this skill develop?
2. Understanding the perception of faces and emotional facial expressions. Do adults and children perceive facial expressions categorically? Does this differ in autism spectrum disorders (ASD)? When does categorical perception develop?
3. How does the early development of social perception differ in children who are at risk for developing with ASD? An answer to this question will be theoretically illuminating, and has the potential to allow for the early detection of infants who are developing with ASD.

Selected publications

Articles:

Cheal JL, Rutherford MD. (2011). Categorical perception of emotional facial expressions in preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2011.03.007

Rutherford MD, Troje N. (2011). IQ predicts biological motion perception in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Rutherford MD, Troubridge E, Walsh J. (2011). Mapping Relationships Among Emotion Categories in High Functioning Autism using Emotion Aftereffects. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

McAleer P, Kay JW, Pollick FE, Rutherford MD. (2010). Intention Perception in High Functioning People with Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Animacy Displays Derived from Human Actions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. DOI 10.1007/s10803-010-1130-8.

Krysko KM & Rutherford MD. (2009). A Threat-detection advantage in those with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Brain and Cognition. 69 (3): 472-480.

Books:

Rutherford MD. (2011). Child Development: Perspectives in Developmental Psychology. Oxford University Press. Rutherford MD , Kuhlmeier VA. (eds.) Social Perception. MIT Press

Areas of expertise/interest: understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mood disorders in children, adolescents and young adults, and potential early interventions on this population; and the multigenerational transmission of risk for psychopathology, with focus on the interplay of genetic and environmental factors.

Dr. Roberto Sassi completed his medical training at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, a residency in adult psychiatry at the University of São Paulo and a residency in both adult and child psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital / McLean Hospital, Harvard University. He completed his PhD training at University of Sao Paulo, with a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroimaging at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, where he worked on magnetic resonance imaging investigations on bipolar disorder. Prior to joining McMaster University, Dr. Sassi held faculty appointment at the Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, in Florida.

Selected publications

Articles:

Sassi RB (2011) Abstract thinking: trauma and the mind-body connection. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Jul: 50(7):631-2

Sassi RB (2011) Abstract thinking: Got a raise? Thank your kindergarten teacher. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Jan;50(1):1-1

Sassi RB (2010) Genetics. Potential biomarkers of pediatric depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Sep:49(9):861-2

Sassi RB (2010) Assessing the risk of suicide through prospective studies. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry Feb;49(2):87-8

Sassi RB (2010) Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and gender. Arch Womens Ment Health. Feb:13(1):29-31

Monkul ES, Hatch JP, Sassi RB, Axelson D, Brambilla P, Nicoletti MA, Keshevan MS, Ryan ND, Birmaher B, Soares JC. MRI study of the cerebellum in young bipolar patients. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Apr 1:32(3):613-9. Epub 2007 Oct 11.

Brambilla P, Macdonald AW 3rd, Sassi RB, Johnson JK, Mallinger AG, Carter Cs. Soares JC. Context processing performance in bipolar disorder patients 2007 May:9(3):230-7

Area of expertise/interest: Evaluating the efficacy of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)-based intervention approaches for improving developmental outcomes in children with severe intellectual disabilities

Dr. Summer’s work has paved the way for clinical investigations into the effectiveness of ABA-based strategies for building functional skills in children with severe/profound intellectual disabilities with a variety of etiologies.

She is currently working to explore memory for events in nonverbal children with autism, with the hopes of learning more about what they remember and how long they retain these memories. She will also be looking at the relationship between children’s memory performance and their scores on measures of intellectual, adaptive and language functioning. This information may help design teaching strategies to improve their memory, which plays a critical part in their ability to learn new skills.

Dr. Summer is also developing a battery to study learning, memory and motor performance in children with Angelman syndrome and developing guidelines for treating challenging behaviours in individuals with Angelman syndrome.

Dr. Summers was the recipient of McMaster Children’s Hospital’s Family-Centred Care Award in 2011.

Selected publications

Articles:

Summers J, & Impey J. (2011). Joint attention responding and initiation in children with Angelman syndrome. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 24(5), 450-458.

Summers J, & Szatmari P. (2009). Using discrete trial instruction to teach children with Angelman syndrome. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 24(4), 216-226.

Bradley EA, Summers JA, Wood HL, & Bryson SE (2004). Comparing rates of psychiatric and behavior disorders in adolescents and young adults with severe intellectual disability with and without autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(2), 151-161.

Summers J, Boyd K, & Morgan J. (2004). Evaluating patients with intellectual disabilities and comorbid mental health problems. Psychiatric Annals, 34(3), 214-220.

Summers JA, Houlding CM, & Reitzel JM (2004). Behavior management services for children with autism/PDD: Program description and patterns of referral. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 19(2), 95-101.

Books:

Bradley E, Summers J, Brereton A, Einfeld S, Havercamp S, Holt G, Levitas A, & Tonge B. (2007). Intellectual disabilities and behavioral, emotional and psychiatric disturbances. In I. Brown & M. Percy (Eds.), A Comprehensive Guide to Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (pp. 645-666). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.

Summers J & Pittman D. (2004). Angelman syndrome. In D. Griffiths & R. King (Eds.), Demystifying syndromes: Clinical and educational implications of common syndromes associated with persons with intellectual disabilities (pp. 161-187). New York: NADD Press.

Summers J, Boyd K, Reid J, Adamson J, Habjan B, Gignac V & Meister C. (2002). The interdisciplinary mental health team. In D. Griffiths, C. Stavrakaki, & J. Summers (Eds.), An introduction to the mental health needs of persons with developmental disabilities (pp. 325-357). Sudbury: Habilitative Mental Health Resource Network.

Percy M, Summers J & Lovering J (in press). Down syndrome: Characteristics and health issues. In I. Brown & M. Percy (Eds.), Developmental disabilities in Ontario, Third Edition.

Area of expertise/interest: child health, development and wellbeing among immigrant and refugee families, education and preparation of health professionals entering practice, qualitative approaches to community based research and evaluation of programs.

Dr. Wahoush participates with other research teams engaged in research with vulnerable or at risk populations, leading the qualitative research component and successfully engaging communities and hard to reach groups to participate in research.

At present Dr. Wahoush is completing a feasibility study with Government Assisted refugee families settling in Hamilton & Kitchener. The study is focused on child health growth and development and social determinants affecting their families. Dr. Wahoush is investigating the factors which support the integration of newcomer refugee families and their children into their new communities. Answers to these questions will inform program planners and others supporting refugee families resettling in Ontario communities.

In 2008 Dr. Wahoush was awarded a Canadian Health Services and Research Foundation CADRE Post doctoral fellowship (2008 – 2010).

Selected publications

Articles:

Wahoush E O. (2010). When their preschooler is ill: Refugee and Asylum seeking mothers. Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken Germany, ISBN 078-3-8383-3191-0.

Wahoush O. (2009). Perspectives on Communication: Reaching a hard to reach population such as asylum seekers and resettled refugees in Canada. World Health Bulletin, August.

Wahoush O, Boyle M, Cockerill R. (2009). Equitable health care access: The experience of refugee and refugee claimant mothers when their preschooler is ill. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, September.

Stewart D, Gagnon A, Saucier J-F, Wahoush O, Dougherty G. (2008). Postpartum Depression Symptoms in Newcomers. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 53, 121-124.

Gagnon A J, Dougherty G, Platt RW, Wahoush O, George A, Stanger E, Oxman-Martinez J, Saucier JF, Merry L, Stewart DE. (2007). Refugee and refugee-claimant women and infants post-birth: Migration histories as a predictor of Canadian health system response to needs: Canadian Journal of Public Health, 98(4):287-291.

Books:

Wahoush O, Mujica I, Ladouceur M. (2011). Fundamentals of Nursing: Nursing Practice in Canada 3rd Ed. Chapter 10. Global and Environmental Health.