Principal Investigator

Dr. Rogers specializes in conducting developmental research into autism and other developmental disorders and working with children with developmental disabilities and their families, especially young children with autism. She studies early developmental processes, including imitation, social-communicative behavior, development of motor skills, language, and social interaction patterns. She collaborates with Dr. Ozonoff on studies of autism in infant siblings. She is also involved in developing treatments for autism and examining treatment efficacy in autism using a treatment model that she developed in collaboration with Geraldine Dawson, the Early Start Denver Model. She is the PI of a number of federal grants, including an NIH fundedACE Network grant involving a multisite randomized clinical trial of early intervention, and a large interdisciplinary postdoctoral training grant that she directs with Dr. Amaral. Her clinical interests include evaluation of cognitive, behavioral, social, emotional, and adaptive functioning; early intervention for children with autism; developing treatment and educational interventions for persons with autism of all ages, and social skills groups for adults with autism. She has written extensively in her field, authoring numerous articles and books and developing training videos. Dr. Rogers is an associate editor for Autism Research and serves on the editorial board of many publications, including the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, and Infants and Young Children. She also reviews for periodicals such as Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Science, American Journal of Mental Retardation, Journal of Early Intervention, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, and Development and Psychopathology. 

Team Leader, Early Steps Study

Vanessa Avila-Pons, M.A., is a Team Leader for the Early Steps Study at the MIND Institute. Her primary responsibilities include case supervision and parent coaching, as well as assisting with training and supervision of other members of the Early Steps Study treatment team. Prior research experience involved the use of different behavioral treatments to improve disruptive behaviors, inattention, and academic skills in children with ADHD. Vanessa has many years of clinical experience working with children with autism and their families. Her early intervention experience has included developing and managing home and school based intervention programs for children in community based treatment programs, using behavioral approaches and Floortime. Vanessa’s clinical experience has also included providing psychotherapy for adults, children, and families as a registered Marriage and Family Therapist intern.

Junior Specialist

Lisa Baik is a junior specialist for the Early Start Lab at the MIND Institute. She started her relationship with the Early Start Lab while volunteering as an undergraduate research assistant in 2009, and then joined the lab as a junior specialist after completing her undergraduate studies. Lisa graduated with a double major in Psychology (B.A) and Neurobiology, Physiology, & Behavior (B.S.) from UC Davis in June 2011. She works on several different projects for the Early Start Lab. Her primary roles include session coordination, data organization, and research assistant supervision. In addition, Lisa serves as a clinical contact support for the PATH project, in which she is responsible for subject tracking, scheduling, and follow-up.

Analyst

Jennifer Bernstein received her B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior from UC Davis in 2010. She began her work at the MIND Institute in 2007 as a child life volunteer in the clinic, became a research assistant for the Early Steps Study, and now works as an Analyst in the Early Start Lab. Her primary responsibilities include designing and maintaining local databases, and helping with gathering, coding, and managing data for multiple projects.

Speech-Language Pathologist, Early Steps Study
ESDM Early Intervention Program
Project manager, Center on Secondary Education for Students with Autism (CSESA)

Aimee Bord, MA, CCC-SLP is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders across the lifespan.  She is certified in the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) and, along with a multidisciplinary treatment team, provides both direct and indirect treatment and consultation for toddlers receiving intensive early intervention.  She also serves as project manager for the Center for Secondary Education for Students with Autism (CSESA) which is a study involving 6 universities across the country examining the implementation of evidence based treatments for High School students with Autism.  Her clinical and research interests include the study of evidence based interventions for children and adults with speech and language disorders and their families.  Ms. Bord also has experience as a presenter, developing training seminars and courses on a variety of speech and language related topics including autism spectrum disorders.

Training Manager, Early Start Denver Model
Team Lead, Early Steps Lab

Megan Devitt is the Early Start Denver Model Training Manager. She coordinates all training activities for professionals interested in becoming ESDM certified therapists and certified trainers. Megan Devitt is also a Team Leader for the Early Steps Study at the MIND Institute. In 2010 Megan began her relationship with the Early Steps Lab as an In-Home Interventionist implementing the Early Start Denver Model for young children with Autism.  She has been trained in Applied Behavioral Analysis, Pivotal Response Treatment, and the Early Start Denver Model. She enjoys working with children at the toddler age and has experience working with behavior modification in adolescents. She also has extensive training in facilitating coping for families and individuals with chronic disease and disabilities. Her research includes experience as a study coordinator at the N.I.H. and studying patterns of learning and memory in individuals with chronic conditions.

Dr. Goodlin-Jones, a clinical developmental psychologist, is an active member of the MIND Institute’s clinical research teams. These research teams see a wide range of children with at-risk development and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism and fragile X syndrome. Dr. Goodlin-Jones completed her undergraduate education at Stanford University and her graduate education at University of Washington. Her focus of research involves sleep patterns in typically developing children and children with autism, developmental delay, and fragile X syndrome. Dr. Goodlin-Jones works closely with several colleagues at the MIND Institute on the early indicators of autism and parent-child interaction patterns in families with fragile X syndrome and autism. 

Scheduling Coordinator, Early Steps Study

Deeniece Hatten has been working with the University of California Davis for six years. She spent the last four years as the program assistant for the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders Project. Currently, as the Early Steps Scheduling Coordinator, she schedules in home and MIND treatment sessions. Deeniece also oversees and manages daily operations of the lab including equipment, supplies, personnel/subject recruitment and all patient billings.

Research Assistant, PATH Project

Emily Holly is a research assistant for the PATH project and her primary responsibilities include assessment and data coding. Emily’s relationship with the Early Start team began in 2010 when she worked as an undergraduate research assistant. In 2011, Emily became an interventionist for the Early Steps Study on the treatment team and, in late 2012, moved to the PATH project. Emily has been working with children with autism and their families both in homes and schools for the past several years. Emily received her Bachelor’s degree from UC Davis and is currently working on her Master’s Degree in School Psychology, Pupil Personnel Services Credential, and Education Specialist Degree at Sacramento State University.

Carolyn McCormick is a doctoral candidate in the Psychology Department at UC Davis under the supervision of Dr. Sally Rogers. For the Early Start Lab, Carolyn conducts autism diagnostic assessments for the Early Steps and PATH projects. Due to her special interest in statistical analysis, Carolyn also assists multiple projects with data analysis. Her primary research interests include the effect of reward on learning and sensory symptoms in autism. Carolyn received her Master’s degree from UCD and her Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University.

Project Manager, Early Steps Study

Marie L. Rocha, Ph.D., is the manager of the Early Start Laboratory and the project manager of the Early Steps Study.   Dr. Rocha is a board certified behavior analyst and received her doctorate in Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. Her primary responsibility is the supervision and training of the Early Steps Study team. In addition, she provides parent coaching and case supervision for families. Her research to date focused on developing and evaluating naturalistic behavior analytic techniques including parent education models. Her clinical experience includes supervising home and school-based behavioral intervention programs for children in community-based treatment programs. Dr. Rocha is also a certified therapist and trainer of the Early Start Denver Model.  She has experience training large groups of professionals throughout the United States and Canada. Dr. Rocha has been working with children with autism and their families since 1996.

Dr. Laurie Vismara is an assistant research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a board certified behavior analyst. She specializes in conducting treatment research with young children with autism and their families. She is collaborating with Dr. Sally Rogers in examining treatment efficacy and effectiveness in autism using the Early Start Denver Model, as well as developing a coaching curriculum and parent education model for immediate provision of intervention to at-risk infants and toddlers. In addition, she studies the effectiveness of distance coaching through the use of medicine technology, as well as various teaching modalities to best disseminate evidence-based intervention models to families and community-based service providers. Her work in implementation research related to professional and parent training has been published in numerous articles. She also reviews for periodicals such as Journal of Early Intervention, Journal of Child Psychology and Child Psychiatry, Journal of Positive Behavior Support, and Topics in Early Childhood Special
Education.Assistant Professional Researcher, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine 

An assistant research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Gregory Young is a developmental psychologist. He specializes in longitudinal research design and analysis, with an interest in eye-tracking and behavioral coding as ways to measure intraindividual change as it relates to typical development and the early onset of developmental disorders such as autism. He collaborates with Drs. Sally Rogers and Sally Ozonoff on studies of the onset and treatment of autism in infant siblings and young preschoolers, and with Dr. Julie Schweitzer on the role of norepinephrine and the locus ceruleus in ADHD as measured by pupil dilation dynamics. Dr. Young also has specific interests and expertise in statistical analysis techniques using hierarchical generalized models as applied to growth curve analysis, Rasch measurement modeling, and sequential analysis of time series data. Additionally, he has expertise in database programming and advanced data processing algorithms for use with methodologies such as eye-tracking and behavioral coding. Dr. Young reviews regularly for a number of publications including Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Autism Research, Biological Psychiatry, and Biological Letters.Assistant Professional Research Scientist, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine

Dr. Cynthia Zierhut is the Project Manager for the PATH (Parents and Toddlers at Home) Study, the purpose of this study is to improve the learning rates, language acquisition, and overall development of 12-30-month-old children with autism. This randomized control trial and multi-site project will aim to make improvements via modifying and strengthening the effects of an existing, manualized parent-delivered intervention for toddlers with autism, the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) parent coaching approach. Her role on the project is to manage and provide ongoing supervision to the clinical team at the UC Davis site. Dr. Zierhut is a developmental and licensed clinical psychologist specializing in working with young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families for over a decade. She has been working with Dr. Sally Rogers since 2005, is a trainer in the ESDM, and recently returned to the lab after a year managing a collaborative ESDM group delivery project in Melbourne Australia.