Joan Kaufman, Ph.D.

Headshot of Joan Kaufman
  • Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Research Interests

Child Abuse; Adverse Child Experiences; Psychiatric Assessment ...read more

Background

Titles

  • Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Departments / Divisions

Education

Degrees

  • B.A.; Tufts University (Massachusetts) (1981)
  • Ph.D.; Yale University (Connecticut) (1990)

Research & Publications

Research Summary

My research is predominantly in the area of child adversity, spans from neurobiology to social policy, and uses tools from psychology, genetics, and neuroscience to understand mechanisms of risk and resilience in vulnerable children.  I have testified on child policy related issues at the United Nations and the US Senate, and I have provided testimony on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance and systemic racism to the State of California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.  I have also frequently provided expert testimony on behalf of youth involved with the child welfare system. As first author on the KSADS child psychiatric diagnostic interview which has been translated into more than 30 languages and updated to a web-based computer-administered format, I have also served as a consultant on numerous federally-funded and industry-sponsored child psychiatric clinical trials.

Selected Publications

Townsend, L, Kobak, K., Kearney, C., Milham, M., Andreotti, C., Escalera, J., Alexander, L., Gill, M.K., Birmaher, B., Sylvester, R., Rice, D., Deep, A., Kaufman, J. (2020). Development of Three Web-Based Computerized Versions of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS-COMP) Child Psychiatric Diagnostic Interview: Preliminary Validity Data. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Feb;59(2):309-325. doi:10.1016/j.jaac. PMID: 31108163

Wymbs NF, Orr C, Albaugh MD, Althoff RR, O'Loughlin K, Holbrook H, Garavan H, Montalvo-Ortiz JL, Mostofsky S, Hudziak J, Kaufman J. Social supports moderate the effects of child adversity on neural correlates of threat processing. Child Abuse Negl. 2020 Feb 14;102:104413. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104413.PMID: 32065988

Kaufman, J., Montalvo-Ortiz, J.L., Holbrook, H., O'Loughlin, K., Orr, C., Kearney, C., Yang, B.-Z., Wang, T., Zhao, H., Althoff, R., Garavan, H., Gelernter, J., Hudziak, H., 2018. Adverse Childhood Experiences, Epigenetic Measures, and Obesity in Youth. Journal of Pediatrics, 202: 150-156

Kaufman, J. (2020). A child's right to family. Lancet Psychiatry, 7(8), 652-653. doi:10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30139-5

Kaufman J, Birmaher B, Brent D, Rao U, Ryan N, Flynn C, Moreci, P. The Revised Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children: Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL): Preliminary Reliability and Validity Data. J Am Acad Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 1997:36:980-988

Contact for Research Inquiries

Email me

Patient Ratings & Comments

The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to physician related questions on the national CG-CAHPS Medical Practice patient experience survey through Press Ganey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Comments are also gathered from our CG-CAHPS Medical Practice Survey through Press Ganey and displayed in their entirety. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

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