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Susan Swedo, M.D., is Chief of the Pediatrics & Developmental Neuropsychiatry Branch, NIMH. She is a board-certified pediatrician, who trained at Northwestern University’s Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Swedo has authored/co-authored over 100 research publications since joining the NIMH in 1986. Her research has focused on diagnosis and treatment of childhood neuropsychiatric condictions, including Sydenham’s chorea, Tourette Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Dr. Swedo and colleagues were the first to describe a post-infectious etiology for OCD and define criteria identifying the PANDAS subgroup (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections). Current research efforts are directed at identifying biological causes for behavioral syndromes and developing new and more effective therapies.
Audrey Thurm, Ph.D. is a licensed child clinical psychologist who specializes in autism spectrum disorders. She has expertise in longitudinal studies of the early diagnosis of autism. She has been at NIMH since 2002.
Paul Grant, M.D. is board-certified in adult and in child and adolescent psychiatry and has several years of experience in clinical child psychiatry (and more than twenty years of prior experience in clinical medicine). He has previously participated in child psychiatry research at an academic institution, and for the past three years has served as clinician in the research protocols of the Pediatrics and Developmental Neuropsychiatry Branch.
Sarah Spence, M.D., Ph.D. is a board-certified pediatric neurologist, with research training in cognitive neuropsychology. She has a clinical expertise in the treatment of childhood seizure disorders and autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Spence was recently recruited to the PDN from UCLA, where she was medical director of the autism evaluation clinic and the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), a large autism genetics research project.
Lorraine Lougee, LCSW-C, is a Research Social Worker with a degree from Columbia University. She has been with the NIMH for 10 years, and works on the Autism and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder studies.
Margaret Pekar, M.A., received her degree in 1999 from Marymount University. She has been with the Section on Behavioral Pediatrics since 1996.
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This page was last updated on: March 31, 2008