Robert M. Joseph, PhD
Associate Professor, Anatomy & Neurobiology
Biography
My clinical expertise is in the diagnosis and assessment (including neuropsychological evaluation) of children and young adults with neurodevelopmental disorders. My scholarly and research interests are in child development and developmental psychopathology, particularly brain-behavior relationships in developmental disorders. My research is aimed at defining the brain bases of social-communicative dysfunction as well as special abilities in autism spectrum disorder as a way of elucidating differences in brain architecture in autism. I use multiple methodologies to investigate neurocognitive function in autism, including computerized measures of behavioral response time, eye-tracking, and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, since 2011, I have served as the lead psychologist of the multi-site Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn (ELGAN) Study investigating early environmental and biological predictors of neurocognitive and neurobehavioral outcomes in children born at extremely low gestational age. A primary 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.
Other Positions
- Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- University of Massachusetts Boston, PhD
- University of Massachusetts Amherst, BA
Classes Taught
- GMSAN811
- GMSAN815
- GMSMS700
Publications
- Published on 3/15/2024
McFayden TC, Harrop C, Roell K, Joseph RM, Fry RC, O'Shea TM. Sex Differences in Autistic Youth Born Extremely Preterm. J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Mar 15. PMID: 38489107.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/12/2023
Camerota M, McGowan EC, Aschner J, Stroustrup A, O'Shea TM, Hofheimer JA, Joseph RM, Musci R, Taylor G, Carter BS, Check J, Dansereau LM, Gogcu S, Helderman JB, Neal CR, Pastyrnak SL, Smith LM, Marsit CJ, Lester BM. Neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes of very preterm infants: latent profile analysis in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program. Pediatr Res. 2024 Jan; 95(1):377-385. PMID: 37700161.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/9/2023
Alho J, Samuelsson JG, Khan S, Mamashli F, Bharadwaj H, Losh A, McGuiggan NM, Graham S, Nayal Z, Perrachione TK, Joseph RM, Stoodley CJ, Hämäläinen MS, Kenet T. Both stronger and weaker cerebro-cerebellar functional connectivity patterns during processing of spoken sentences in autism spectrum disorder. Hum Brain Mapp. 2023 Dec 01; 44(17):5810-5827. PMID: 37688547.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 7/22/2023
Patti MA, Ning X, Hosseini M, Croen LA, Joseph RM, Karagas MR, Ladd-Acosta C, Landa R, Messinger DS, Newschaffer CJ, Nguyen R, Ozonoff S, O'Shea TM, Schmidt RJ, Trevino CO, Lyall K. A Comparative Analysis of the Full and Short Versions of the Social Responsiveness Scale in Estimating an Established Autism Risk Factor Association in ECHO: Do we Get the Same Estimates? J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Jul 22. PMID: 37480437.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/17/2023
Frazier JA, Li X, Kong X, Hooper SR, Joseph RM, Cochran DM, Kim S, Fry RC, Brennan PA, Msall ME, Fichorova RN, Hertz-Picciotto I, Daniels JL, Lai JS, Boles RE, Zvara BJ, Jalnapurkar I, Schweitzer JB, Singh R, Posner J, Bennett DH, Kuban KCK, O'Shea TM. Perinatal Factors and Emotional, Cognitive, and Behavioral Dysregulation in Childhood and Adolescence. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2023 Dec; 62(12):1351-1362. PMID: 37207889.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/20/2023
Freedman AN, Clark J, Eaves LA, Roell K, Oran A, Koval L, Rager J, Santos HP, Kuban K, Joseph RM, Frazier J, Marsit CJ, Burt AA, O'Shea TM, Fry RC. A multi-omic approach identifies an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) regulatory complex of functional epimutations in placentas from children born preterm. Autism Res. 2023 May; 16(5):918-934. PMID: 36938998.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 3/17/2023
Ahlfors SP, Graham S, Bharadwaj H, Mamashli F, Khan S, Joseph RM, Losh A, Pawlyszyn S, McGuiggan NM, Vangel M, Hämäläinen MS, Kenet T. No Differences in Auditory Steady-State Responses in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Mar 17. PMID: 36932270.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/22/2023
Alho J, Khan S, Mamashli F, Perrachione TK, Losh A, McGuiggan NM, Graham S, Nayal Z, Joseph RM, Hämäläinen MS, Bharadwaj H, Kenet T. Atypical cortical processing of bottom-up speech binding cues in children with autism spectrum disorders. Neuroimage Clin. 2023; 37:103336. PMID: 36724734.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/13/2023
Emmanuel C, Yi JX, Joseph RM, Kuban KKC, Knafl KA, Docherty SL, Hodges EA, Fry RC, O'Shea TM, Santos HP. Child and family factors associated with positive outcomes among youth born extremely preterm. Pediatr Res. 2023 Jul; 94(1):172-177. PMID: 36639518.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 1/3/2023
Joseph RM, Lai ER, Bishop S, Yi J, Bauman ML, Frazier JA, Santos HP, Douglas LM, Kuban KKC, Fry RC, O'Shea TM. Comparing autism phenotypes in children born extremely preterm and born at term. Autism Res. 2023 Mar; 16(3):653-666. PMID: 36595641.
Read at: PubMed
View 115 more publications: View full profile at BUMC