Neurodevelopmental Disabilities Residency Program: Resident Bios

Elaine Carrasco
Birth place: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
College: Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Medical school: Universidad Iberoamericana, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Residency: Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, New York
Reason for pursuing NDD: Growing up in the Dominican Republic, I had the opportunity to do volunteer work in orphanages, where sadly, children with neurodevelopmental disabilities were abandoned by their families. Being faced with this reality made me want to dedicate my medical career to the understanding of children with special needs that would allow me to ultimately create systems in third world countries, such as my own, that would both increase awareness in the general population and help disabled children reach their full potential.

Joanna Burton
Birth place: Princeton, New Jersey
College: University of Chicago
Medical school: University of Illinois
Residency: University of Maryland Medical Center
Reason for pursuing NDD: As most of us in NDD training will tell you, I fell into the field accidentally, though my winding career path was always pointing me this way. I taught bilingual special education in Washington, DC, through Teach for America and knew I wanted to keep working with this population, but in a different environment than the classroom. I returned to school and received an MD/PhD, with the PhD in speech and hearing science. My dissertation focused on the effects of environment on assessment of word learning. I investigated child psychiatry, child neurology, and developmental medicine before finding this neurodevelopmental disabilities fellowship. This is the right match for my interest in both academic and clinical medicine and serving a special needs population. It allows me to work with children through identification and follow-up of neurologic and developmental disabilities (and the intersection of the two) as well as guide educational placement and services. Additionally, I get to pursue my interest in understanding the biological underpinnings of language disability.

Mary Lee Gregory
Birth place: Columbia, South Carolina
College: Furman University
Medical school: Medical University of South Carolina
Residency: Baystate
Reason for pursuing NDD: I have a long-standing interest in learning and memory. My undergraduate degree was in neurosciences and I pursued a PhD focusing on effects of environmental enrichment/impoverishment in adolescent rats on learning/memory and the expression of mGluRs. Pediatric neurology was a clear choice for me. When I learned about NDD programs, I appreciated the more holistic training and view of patient care, as well as the protected research time and emphasis on academic careers.

Joan Jasien
Birth place: Baltimore, Maryland
College: James Madison University
Medical school: University of Minnesota
Residency: Yale University School of Medicine
Reason for pursuing NDD: As I reflect on my experiences in life and education, I can readily identify a series of encounters that have led me to my current position as a neurodevelopmental resdent/fellow embarking on a career caring for children and adults with special health care needs. My first exposure to this varied population was when I was a young girl. My mom taught swimming lessons at a YWCA to children and adults with Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and muscular dystrophy. As I doggie-paddled around them I was struck by their smiles, laughter and enjoyment of their activity and each other. This experience inspired me to become a Special Olympics coach for five years and enroll in special education courses in college. I volunteered in homes for physically and mentally disabled children and adults in urban and rural Haiti and India. I developed a deep interest in health care through these experiences and subsequently enrolled in further education and training.

Siddharth Srivastava
Birth place: Delhi, India
College: Columbia University
Medical school: Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine
Residency: Johns Hopkins Hospital
Reason for pursuing NDD: I envision my career as one that combines a zeal for research with a genuine drive to improve the lives of children with developmental disabilities. I am interested in exploring the genetics and molecular mechanisms of language deficits and autism in the context of genetic disorders; identifying the genetic and epigenetic changes involved in undiagnosed disorders involving neurodegeneration or regression; and reversing deficits in developmental disabilities by targeting implicated molecular pathways.

Jacqueline Weissman
Birth place: Dayton, Ohio
College: The University of Chicago
Medical school: Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine
Residency: Children's Medical Center Dallas/UT Southwestern Pediatrics
Reason for pursuing NDD: I became fascinated with autism and the other developmental disabilities working in a special needs daycare center in high school. Throughout college and medical school I became interested not only in the patients and caring for them but also in the genetic and neurophysiologic underpinnings of these disorders. NDD was a natural fit for me considering my specific interest in working with this patient population as well as my strong research interest and desire to always be in the lab and in the academic world.