Robert M. Joseph, PhD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

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.

Publications

  • Published 1/9/2025

    Kelly NR, Kosty D, Bodovski Y, Blackwell CK, Ganiban JM, Neiderhiser JM, Dabelea D, Gilbert-Diamond D, Aschner JL, Bastain TM, Breton CV, Bush NR, Calub CA, Camargo CA, Camerota M, Croen LA, Elliott AJ, Enlow MB, Ferrara A, Hartert T, Joseph RM, Karagas MR, Kelly RS, Lyall K, Magee KE, McEvoy CT, Merced-Nieves FM, O'Connor TG, Santarossa S, Schantz SL, Schmidt RJ, Stanford JB, Straughen JK, Stroustrup A, Talge NM, Wright RJ, Zhao Q, Leve LD. Children's executive functioning and health behaviors across pediatric life stages and ecological contexts. J Behav Med. 2025 Apr; 48(2):230-250. PMID: 39786706.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/8/2025

    Lyall K, Dickerson AS, Green AM, Frndak S, Croen LA, Ames JL, Avalos LA, Aschner JL, Bush NR, Camargo CA, D'Sa V, Dager SR, Dunlop AL, Ferrara A, Ganiban JM, Gern JE, Gissandaner TD, Graff JC, Hertz-Picciotto I, Hipwell AE, Ma T, Miller M, Murphy L, Karagas MR, Kelly RS, Margolis A, Koinis-Mitchell D, McEvoy CT, Messinger D, Nguyen R, Oken E, Ozonoff S, Page GP, Schantz SL, Schmidt RJ, Shuster CL, Schweitzer JB, Sheinkopf SJ, Stanford JB, Trevino CO, Weiss ST, Volk HE, Joseph RM. Demographic Correlates of Autism: How Do Associations Compare Between Diagnosis and a Quantitative Trait Measure? Autism Res. 2025 Mar; 18(3):648-659. PMID: 39778060.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/6/2025

    Volk HE, Fortes D, Musci R, Kim A, Bastain TM, Camargo CA, Croen LA, Dabelea D, Duarte CS, Dunlop AL, Gachigi K, Ghassabian A, Hertz-Picciotto I, Huddleston KC, Joseph RM, Keating D, Kelly RS, Kim YS, Landa RJ, Leve LD, Lyall K, Northrup JB, O'Connor T, Ozonoff S, Ross A, Schmidt RJ, Schweitzer JB, Shuffrey LC, Shuster C, Vance E, Weiss ST, Wilkening G, Wright RO. Co-occurring Psychopathology in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Differences by Sex in the ECHO Cohorts. J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jan 06. PMID: 39762643.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/13/2024

    Jalnapurkar I, Oran A, Frazier JA, Cochran D, Kim S, Jensen E, Joseph R, Hooper SR, Santos H, Jara H, Kuban KCK, Msall ME, Singh R, Washburn L, Gogcu S, Hanson S, Venuti L, Fry RC, O'Shea TM. Maternal and psychosocial antecedents of anxiety and depression in extremely low gestational age newborns at age 15 years. Front Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024; 3:1334316. PMID: 39816584.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/25/2024

    Patti MA, Croen LA, Dickerson AS, Joseph RM, Ames JL, Ladd-Acosta C, Ozonoff S, Schmidt RJ, Volk HE, Hipwell AE, Magee KE, Karagas M, McEvoy C, Landa R, Elliott MR, Mitchell DK, D'Sa V, Deoni S, Pievsky M, Wu PC, Barry F, Stanford JB, Bilder DA, Trasande L, Bush NR, Lyall K. Reproducibility between preschool and school-age Social Responsiveness Scale forms in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes program. Autism Res. 2024 Jun; 17(6):1187-1204. PMID: 38794898.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 135 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

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

Websites

Education

  • University of Massachusetts Boston, PhD
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst, BA

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