Robert Joseph

Associate Professor neuropsychology and neurobiology of autism and children born extremely preterm

  • Title Associate Professor

    neuropsychology and neurobiology of autism and children born extremely preterm
  • Office L-816, BUSM
  • Phone 617-358-5811

Dr. Joseph received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1996. He completed postdoctoral training in developmental neuropsychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Joseph has been a faculty member of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology since 2001.
Dr. Joseph does research on the neuropsychology and neurobiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). One of the primary aims of his research has been to identify “neurophenotpyes” that can help to resolve the heterogeneity in the causes and symptomatic expression of ASD. This research has focused on differences in how individuals with ASD attend to, perceive, and respond emotionally to information from faces, such as shifts of gaze and facial expressions of emotion. In addition, Dr. Joseph researches differences in visual attention and perception that are often expressed in the form of superior performance in, for example, tests of nonverbal IQ and visual search in autism, to gain a better understanding of how the brain develops and is organized differently in autism. To study these questions, he has used computerized behavioral tests, eye tracking, psychophysiological measures, and magnetic resonance neuroimaging.
Dr. Joseph is the lead psychologist of a multi-site study (www.elganstudy.org) investigating early environmental and biological predictors of neurocognitive and neurobehavioral outcomes in children born at extremely low gestational age. The aim of this study is to determine if neonatal markers of brain inflammation predict a higher prevalence of learning difficulties and behavioral disorders, including autism, in children who are born extremely preterm, as well as to identify modifiable risk factors that can reduce the likelihood of preterm birth and optimize the outcomes of children born preterm.
Dr. Joseph teaches the following courses: Elementary Biostatistics for the Biomedical Sciences (MS 700), Autism: Clinical and Neuroscience Perspectives (AN 713), Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (AN 716), Cognitive Neuroscience (AN 811), and Scientific Writing (AN 815).

Robert M. Joseph CV, 1_15_20

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