Keep up-to-date with our latest news and happenings.
The Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service was awarded to Jean Frazier, MD, the Robert M. and Shirley S. Siff Chair in Autism, professor of psychiatry, and executive director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center.
The Shriver Center is pleased to announce that the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) program has expanded and is now known as the Program for Improving Public Health Systems (PIPS)! The newly named initiative represents an expansion and continuing evolution of CANS, which originally launched in 2009 when the Commonwealth was required to implement a single assessment tool for all young people receiving outpatient and in home behavioral health care.
UMass Medical School’s Sibling Support Program encourages siblings of children undergoing inpatient mental health treatment to talk about what is happening at home, Emily Rubin, MA, creator and director of the program, told New England Psychologist.
The UMass Medical School Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center’s Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CANDO) clinic, in partnership with the Division of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics, has joined the Autism Learning Health Network of Autism Speaks. The network convenes academic leaders in autism and other neurodevelopmental and intellectual disabilities nationwide to standardize and share clinical data collection and outcomes research to improve care for children and families affected by autism spectrum disorder.
Dr. Sarabeth Broder-Fingert was recently promoted to Deputy Director of the Shriver Center. In this new role, Dr. Broder-Fingert will assume more supervisory responsibilities, help with new faculty recruitment, support fundraising efforts, and collaborate on increasing the Center’s overall visibility through an enhanced public relations strategy.
Remember what it was like to be a kid and needing to get a shot at the doctor’s office? Chances are, it was probably not your favorite activity.
For many people with disabilities, especially children, getting a shot can become so traumatizing that it prevents the individual from becoming vaccinated. Often parents don’t know where to turn when the usual vaccination channels don’t address sensory issues and other challenges faced by individuals with disabilities and their families.
Throughout its 50 plus year history, the Shriver Center has been at the forefront of improving the lives of individuals with disabilities, their families, and caregivers through education, research, and service. Two innovative projects advance that tradition, and the leaders for each project recently spoke about the impact and long-term goals of their work addressing gaps in autism care.
“I had always wanted to get a PhD, but various factors over the years made that difficult. I was thrilled to have this opportunity and to be able to do so while still working full time at UMass Chan Medical School.”
Dr. Carol Curtin’s educational path didn’t follow the traditional timeline. She earned a PhD from the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the Clinical & Population Health Research (CPHR) program at the age of 57, but “I took it on with the seriousness of purpose that was more intense than when I was younger,” she said.
The 5-year grant will be used to conduct the largest ever research study to understand the barriers to care for limited English proficiency (LEP) families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
