Early Autism Evaluation Hubs

Starting in mid-July, I began working under Dr. Rebecca McNally Keehn and Angela Rae Paxton and the Pediatric and Adolescent Comparative Effectiveness Research (PACER) team in the Department of Pediatrics at the IU School of Medicine. Their current research area of focus is increasing early pediatric autism diagnosis and intervention in the state of Indiana. The major goals were to increase the accessibility of ASD resources to families across the state. As a part of the team, I assisted in PHI data entry and management using REDCap. I was also able to shadow Dr. McNally Keehn as she and the other researchers conducted site visits in Indianapolis as well as Dr. Christensen, a clinical pediatric neurologist at the IU School of Medicine. Being part of PACER has taught me how to apply HIPAA to real-life research, how to manage research data, ad how to be part of a team which are all valuable aspects of the world of pediatric medicine and research that I look forward to taking with me into my future endeavors.