 | Martha Bridge Denckla, M.D. Director of Developmental Cognitive Neurology, Kennedy Krieger Institute Dr. Martha Bridge Denckla is a research scientist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. She is also a Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. |
Biographical Sketch:
Dr. Denckla graduated summa cum laude from Bryn Mawr College and went on to graduate cum laude from Harvard Medical School in 1962, where she trained with Dr. Norman Geschwind in Behavioral Neurology. Dr. Denckla served residencies at Beth Israel Hospital and Veterans Administration Hospital, both in Boston, as well as Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC. After positions in Neurology at College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and Harvard Medical School, she served as the Director of Learning Disabilities Clinic at Children’s Hospital. She came to the Maryland area in 1982 to serve as Chief of the Section on Autism & Related Disorders at the Developmental Neurology Branch of the Neurological Disorders Program at the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (NIH). She came to Johns Hopkins and KKI in 1987. Dr. Denckla is currently Director of Developmental Cognitive Neurology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and holds the Batza Family Endowed Chair at Kennedy Krieger. She is Principal Investigator of an NIH funded research project concerning girls with ADHD.
Dr. Denckla is past President of both the International Neuropsychology Society, and also of the Behavioral Neurology Society. Dr. Denckla has been awarded the Lucy G. Moses Prize in Clinical Neurology at Columbia University, the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lectureship at Orton Society, the Rita G. Rudel Memorial Lectureship at Columbia University, the Herbert Birch Memorial Lectureship at the International Neuropsychology Society, the Soriano Guest Lectureship of the American Neurological Association, and the Bernard Sachs Lectureship of Child Neurological Society. Most recently, she was the American Academy of Mental Retardation Research Center awardee.
Dr. Denckla is past President of both the International Neuropsychology Society, and also of the Behavioral Neurology Society. Dr. Denckla has been awarded the Lucy G. Moses Prize in Clinical Neurology at Columbia University, the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lectureship at Orton Society, the Rita G. Rudel Memorial Lectureship at Columbia University, the Herbert Birch Memorial Lectureship at the International Neuropsychology Society, the Soriano Guest Lectureship of the American Neurological Association, and the Bernard Sachs Lectureship of Child Neurological Society. Most recently, she was the American Academy of Mental Retardation Research Center awardee.
Research Summary:
Dr. Denckla and her associates study the biological bases for learning disabilities and ADHD in children of normal or above-average intelligence.
There is evidence that girls with ADHD differ from boys with ADHD most strikingly in 1) academic and social-emotional and 2) neurobiological features. Building upon previous research experience concerning neurobiological features of boys with ADHD, Dr. Denckla's research focuses on 2) neurobiology of girls with ADHD, with plans to derive data from quantitative volumetric/anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI) and assessments of executive behaviors, both motor/oculomotor and cognitive.
To take gender into account, girls with ADHD will be compared with control girls as well as boys with and without ADHD. The age range for all 200 subjects (50 in each group) will be 9.0 through 11.5 years; in addition, even at this young age, Tanner staging will be taken into consideration.
Anatomic MRI regions of interest will be frontal lobe, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. It is hypothesized that girls with ADHD will differ from boys with ADHD at the levels of frontal lobe (showing anomalous asymmetry only), and at the level of the basal ganglia (showing symmetrically smaller total caudate and globus pallidus volumes) while sharing with boys total cerebral and posterior inferior vermis reductions.
Behavioral tasks, motor/oculomotor as well as cognitive, will be categorized into inhibitory control, response preparation, and working memory, functions thought to represent parallel frontostriatal and cerebellar interlocking circuits. It is hypothesized that girls with ADHD will be relatively more impaired in terms of response preparation and working memory than in terms of inhibition, a profile opposite to that of boys with ADHD.
Gender-by-subtype interactions with respect to aMRI and behavioral datasets and the impact of emotional symptoms will be analyzed. Brain-behavior relationships as influenced by gender (modified by covariates as noted above) will be interpreted in terms of a neurodevelopmental model of ADHD.
There is evidence that girls with ADHD differ from boys with ADHD most strikingly in 1) academic and social-emotional and 2) neurobiological features. Building upon previous research experience concerning neurobiological features of boys with ADHD, Dr. Denckla's research focuses on 2) neurobiology of girls with ADHD, with plans to derive data from quantitative volumetric/anatomic magnetic resonance imaging (aMRI) and assessments of executive behaviors, both motor/oculomotor and cognitive.
To take gender into account, girls with ADHD will be compared with control girls as well as boys with and without ADHD. The age range for all 200 subjects (50 in each group) will be 9.0 through 11.5 years; in addition, even at this young age, Tanner staging will be taken into consideration.
Anatomic MRI regions of interest will be frontal lobe, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. It is hypothesized that girls with ADHD will differ from boys with ADHD at the levels of frontal lobe (showing anomalous asymmetry only), and at the level of the basal ganglia (showing symmetrically smaller total caudate and globus pallidus volumes) while sharing with boys total cerebral and posterior inferior vermis reductions.
Behavioral tasks, motor/oculomotor as well as cognitive, will be categorized into inhibitory control, response preparation, and working memory, functions thought to represent parallel frontostriatal and cerebellar interlocking circuits. It is hypothesized that girls with ADHD will be relatively more impaired in terms of response preparation and working memory than in terms of inhibition, a profile opposite to that of boys with ADHD.
Gender-by-subtype interactions with respect to aMRI and behavioral datasets and the impact of emotional symptoms will be analyzed. Brain-behavior relationships as influenced by gender (modified by covariates as noted above) will be interpreted in terms of a neurodevelopmental model of ADHD.
Recent Publications/Presentations:
Cutting LE, Mostofsky SH, & Denckla MB. School Difficulties. In J. Mcmillan, C. DeAngelis, R. Feigin, J. and Warshaw (Eds.) Oski's Pediatric-Fourth Edition: Principles and Practices. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (pending).
Denckla MB. Executive Function. D. Gozal and D. Molfese (Eds.) In ADHD: From Genes to Patients. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press (in press).
Denckla MB. Interventions for Learning Disabilities. H. Singer, E. Kossoff, A. Hartman, and T. Crawford (Eds.) Treatment in Pediatric Neurologic Disorders. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. (in press).
Cutting LE, Koth CW, Mahone, E.M., Denckla MB. Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder without reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(3):259-269, 2003.
Cutting LE & Denckla MB. Attention: Relationships between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. In L. Swanson, K. Harris, and S. Graham (Eds.) Handbook of Learning Disabilities. New York: The Guilford Press, 125-139, 2003. Denckla MB. ADHD: Topic update. Brain and Development, 25:383-389, 2003.
Denckla MB. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: spectrum and mechanisms. In AK Asbury, GM McKhann, WI McDonald, PJ Goadsby, and JC McArthur (Eds.) Diseases of the Nervous System: Clinical Neuroscience and Therapeutic Principles, Third Edition, Volume 1. New York: Cambridge University Press, 422-430, 2002.
Denckla MB. Executive Function. D. Gozal and D. Molfese (Eds.) In ADHD: From Genes to Patients. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press (in press).
Denckla MB. Interventions for Learning Disabilities. H. Singer, E. Kossoff, A. Hartman, and T. Crawford (Eds.) Treatment in Pediatric Neurologic Disorders. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. (in press).
Cutting LE, Koth CW, Mahone, E.M., Denckla MB. Evidence for unexpected weaknesses in learning in children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder without reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(3):259-269, 2003.
Cutting LE & Denckla MB. Attention: Relationships between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities. In L. Swanson, K. Harris, and S. Graham (Eds.) Handbook of Learning Disabilities. New York: The Guilford Press, 125-139, 2003. Denckla MB. ADHD: Topic update. Brain and Development, 25:383-389, 2003.
Denckla MB. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: spectrum and mechanisms. In AK Asbury, GM McKhann, WI McDonald, PJ Goadsby, and JC McArthur (Eds.) Diseases of the Nervous System: Clinical Neuroscience and Therapeutic Principles, Third Edition, Volume 1. New York: Cambridge University Press, 422-430, 2002.
Contact Information:
Martha Bridge Denckla, MD
Director, Developmental Cognitive Neurology
Kennedy Krieger Institute
707 North Broadway, Baltimore MD 21205
(map & directions)
Telephone: (443) 923-9250
Email: denckla@kennedykrieger.org
Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Faculty | Clinical Programs | Research
Director, Developmental Cognitive Neurology
Kennedy Krieger Institute
707 North Broadway, Baltimore MD 21205
(map & directions)
Telephone: (443) 923-9250
Email: denckla@kennedykrieger.org
Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and Psychiatry
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine