Emily Feinberg

Emily Feinberg, ScD, CPNP is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and Associate Professor at Boston University School of Public Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences. I received my ScD and MSc from Harvard School of Public Health, my MSN in Parent-Child Nursing from Simmons College, and my BSN from Boston University. I am trained clinically as a pediatric nurse practitioner and continue to see patients at Dothouse Health, a federally qualified community health center in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.

The focus of my research is improving systems of care for vulnerable children with complex conditions. I have a background in maternal and child health with specific training in the conduct of community-based experimental studies. I held a K23 award from the National Institute of Nursing Research to adapt and pilot a depression prevention intervention to mothers of children with developmental delays who receive early intervention services. Our research team has completed three large clinical trials to study this intervention as a depression prevention strategy among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), mothers of poor children in Head Start, and mothers of preterm infants.

My current work focuses on addressing disparities in behavioral health outcomes experienced by low-income children. My work seeks to improve systems of care for young children with ASD and other mental health conditions. I am co-directing a foundation-funded initiative, TEAM- UP for children, to implement an integrated child behavioral health model in community health centers, and I have served as co-investigator on a study that tested a model of collaborative care management for children with ADHD. All of my work related to systems redesign has targeted urban, low-income families and been conducted in urban, safety net settings. Specific to ASD, I was a co-investigator on an MCHB-funded study of family navigation for children newly diagnosed with ASD and PI on 2 pilot grants (Noonan Foundation; AHRQ R03) to develop a model of family navigation to improve early identification of children with ASD. Based on this work, I received one of NIMH’s Services Research for Autism Spectrum Disorder across the Lifespan awards to conduct a multisite Type 1 hybrid effectiveness/implementation to test a comprehensive systems approach, based on Family Navigation, to improve early identification and linkage to services of children with ASD. The five sites that were funded under this funding opportunity have formed the NIMH sponsored ASD PEDS Research Network. I am site PI of the newly funded Autism Center of Excellence network, Autism Adaptive Community-based Treatment to Improve Outcomes using Navigators (ACTION) Network. I have a long history of mentoring doctoral students, postdoctoral student and junior faculty. I have served as the primary mentor/dissertation chair to over 20 mentees.