Robert M. Joseph, PhD

Emeritus 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 4/22/2026

    Ghassabian A, Dickerson AS, Wang Y, Braun JM, Bennett DH, Croen LA, LeWinn KZ, Burris HH, Habre R, Lyall K, Frazier JA, Glass HC, Hooper SR, Joseph RM, Karr CJ, Schmidt RJ, Friedman C, Karagas MR, Stroustrup A, Straughen JK, Dunlop AL, Ganiban JM, Leve LD, Wright RJ, McEvoy CT, Hipwell AE, Giardino AP, Santos HP, Krause H, Oken E, Camargo CA, Oh J, Loftus C, O'Shea TM, O'Connor TG, Szpiro A, Volk HE. Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure and Autism Spectrum Disorder in the ECHO Consortium. Environ Health Perspect. 2026 Jul 07; 134(3):324-334. PMID: 42428257.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 3/19/2026

    Oyungu E, Keehn B, McHenry MS, Monahan PO, Joseph RM, Yoon SY, Carlucci JG, Saina C, Khaitan A, Baliddawa J, McNally Keehn R. Autism outcomes and neurobehavioural markers in young children born to mothers with HIV in Kenya: a protocol for the Alama project. BMJ Open. 2026 Mar 19; 16(3):e109958. PMID: 41856586.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/26/2026

    Hooper SR, Joseph RM, O Shea TM, Kuban KCK, Singh R, Frazier JA, Taylor G, Tan X, Fry RC, Santos HP. Early predictors of cognitive trajectories from birth to adolescence in children born extremely preterm. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2026 Feb 26. PMID: 41746992.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 12/2/2025

    McFayden TC, Harrop C, Roell KR, Joseph RM, Frazier JA, Fry RC, O'Shea TM. Developmental Trajectories of Autistic Social Traits in Youth Born Extremely Preterm. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2026 Aug; 65(8):1054-1065. PMID: 41344423.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/24/2025

    Osorio S, Tan J, Levine G, Ahlfors SP, Graham S, Mamashli F, Khan S, Joseph RM, Nayal Z, Losh A, Pawlyszyn S, McGuiggan NM, Hämäläinen MS, Bharadwaj H, Kenet T. Lower Cortical Activation and Altered Functional Connectivity Characterize Passive Auditory Spatial Attention in ASD. Autism Res. 2025 Nov; 18(11):2240-2253. PMID: 40988632.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 144 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Graduate Medical Sciences Educator and Mentor (Primary Mentor of Graduate 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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