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Dr. Mazurek (MO LEND) Awarded NIH Grant for Autism Research

September 19, 2013

Micah Mazurek, PhD
Micah Mazurek, PhD

Micah Mazurek, PhD, assistant professor of health psychology at the MU School of Health Professions, has been awarded a three-year Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health. Mazurek's research project is titled, "The Autism Impact Measure: A New Tool for Treatment Outcome Measurement."

Mazurek will serve as the principal investigator for the research project. Collaborators will include:

  • Stephen Kanne, PhD, executive director of MU's Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Janine Stichter, PhD, professor of special education at MU
  • Mary Baker-Ericzen, PhD, researcher at the Autism Discovery Institute at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego
  • Eric Butter, PhD, psychologist at Ohio State University's Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus
  • Daniel Coury, MD, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Ohio State University's Nationwide Children's Hospital 
  • Coleen Carlson, PhD, research assistant professor at the University of Houston's Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics

"As a child psychologist at the Thompson Center, my research and clinical work focus on helping children and families affected by autism," Mazurek said. "A few years ago, Dr. Stephen Kanne and I were developing and testing treatments but had difficulty finding measures to track short-term improvements in children's symptoms."

Studies of behavioral and pharmacological treatments for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasing at a rapid pace. However, demonstration of treatment effects has been limited by a lack of psychometrically sound measurement tools that are sensitive to change in core symptoms of ASD. In order to meet this need, Mazurek's team of researchers has developed a new tool, the Autism Impact Measure (AIM), which uses a novel approach designed to be sensitive to incremental changes in ASD symptoms.

To learn more about the research project, please visit http://mizzoushp.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/mazurek-awarded-3-8-million-nih-grant-for-autism-impact-measure-project/.