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Scientist
UW-Madison Waisman Center
I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
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NAME: Hickey, Emily Jean
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login): ejhickey
POSITION TITLE: Scientist
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION DEGREE
(if applicable)
Completion Date
MM/YYYY
FIELD OF STUDY
The Pennsylvania State University B.S. 12/2010 Human Development and Family Studies
The Pennsylvania State University B.S. 12/2010 Life Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison M.S. 09/2013 Human Development and Family Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison Ph.D. 09/2018 Human Development and Family Studies
Boston Medical Center Post-doctoral 8/2020 General Academic Pediatrics
A. Personal Statement
I am a Scientist at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Trained in social-ecological models, I use family systems perspectives in my work to understand how individual characteristics (e.g., gender, socio-economic status) and contextual factors (e.g., caregiver relationships) impact the experiences, well-being, and quality of life (QoL) of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their families/care-teams. More recently, I have focused on other disabling conditions such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and have similarly explored how this disabling condition affects individuals in their everyday life and in their relationships. I bring an understanding of mechanisms linking individual and caregiver outcomes. I have built on this expertise in my intervention work in two separate studies. In the first, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, PI:DaWalt) and Autism Speaks (PI:Smith), I collaborated to elucidate how individual and caregiver characteristics moderate self-efficacy, well-being, and QoL over the course of the Working Together intervention, a multifamily group intervention designed to promote active engagement in work and the community in adults with autism. Second, I was involved in a randomized control trial funded by NIMH (PI:Feinberg) that tested the effectiveness of a Family Navigation model in low-income, urban families of children with developmental disabilities that highlighted how to effectively address disparities in access to health services during an important health transition period, and how this effective intervention could be adapted for other periods of health transition. My expertise will make substantive contributions to this grant. I have demonstrated a record of successful and productive collaborations relevant to the proposed work and continue to pursue opportunities to better understand the underlying mechanisms behind health and QoL outcomes in individuals with IDD in order to promote evidence-based strategies to improve related supports and services.
Ongoing and recently completed projects that I would like to highlight include:
Longitudinal Study of Wisconsin Adult Long Term Care
University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)
Dawalt (PI), Role: co-investigator, research scientist
DHHS, Administration for Community Living: 90DD0804-01, UCEDD Core grant
7/01/2019-06/30/2024
Goal: To support the full inclusion, self-determination, independence and productivity of people with development disabilities and their family across the lifespan. The Longitudinal Study of Wisconsin Adult Long Term Care Study, supported by the UCEDD grant, focuses on the health, well-being, and quality of life trajectories and supports and services among adults with IDD.
Wisconsin MCH Lend Program
HRSA, T73MC00044
Harris (PI), Role: research scientist
7/01/2016-06/30/2021
Goal: Train graduate students on the complex needs of individuals with ASD and DD, 2) increase the number of trained providers available to diagnose and treat those with complex neuro-developmental and other related disabilities, including ASD; and 3) enhance the clinical expertise and leadership skills of practicing professionals and families caring for children and adults with ASD and DD.
Enhanced Support for Early Childhood Systems through Act Early Ambassador Program to Support COVID-19 Recovery
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NU38OT000280
Chodron (PI), Role: data coordinator
09/01/2020-08/31/2021
Goal: To identify and respond to current barriers and opportunities related to improving early identification of developmental delay and disability in each of four steps across early childhood systems
State Implementation Grants for Improving Services for Children and Youth with ASD
Health Resources and Services Administration, H6MMC30387
Chodron (PI), Role: research scientist
09/01/2019-08/31/2023
Goal: To provide family navigation services to medically underserved families of children with/at risk for ASD/DD
National Research Service Award – Primary Care
DHHS/HRSA, T32HP10028
Paasche-Orlow (PI), Role: post-doctoral fellow
07/1/16 - 06/30/21
Goal: This T-32 training award supports post-doctoral training stipends for primary care physicians and other research fellows.
Family Outcomes in Autism Spectrum Disorder
NIH/NIMH, R01 MH099190-01A1
Hartley (PI), Role: research assistant
06/01/2013 – 02/29/2020
Goal: The goal of this project is to examine the within-family associations between the autism symptoms and behavior problems of children with ASDs and marital adjustment as these processes unfold in naturalistic contexts and across three years.
Citations:
1. Hickey, E. J. & Hartley, S. L. (2017). Conservatorship. In E. Braatan and B. Willougby (Eds.), Encyclopedia of intellectual and developmental disorders. Sage Publications.
2. DaWalt, L., Hickey, E., Hudock, R., Esler, A., & Mailick, M. (in press). Impact of Working Together for adults with autism spectrum disorder: A multifamily group intervention. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-134792/v1.
B. Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honors
Positions and Scientific Appointments
2020-present Assistant Research Scientist, Waisman Center, University Center for Excellence in
Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
2020-present APA Division 33 Early Career Professionals Committee Member
2020-present UCEDD Research and Evaluation Core Function Committee Member
2020-present Community of Practice on Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Developmental
Disabilities Member
2020-present Anti-Racism and Implementation Science Community of Practice Work Group Member
2020-present AUCD UCEDD Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Special Interest Group Member
2020-present Boston Medical Center Autism Friendly Initiative Quality Improvement Board Member
2019-2020 Project Early (PI: E. Feinberg) Parents and Families Working Group Leader;
Gender Working Group Leader (2019-2020)
2018-present International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), member
2018-present National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), member
2018-2020 Post-doctoral Fellow, Boston University/Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA
2016-present Association for University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), affiliate
2015-2018 UW-Madison Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA) Member; Executive Board Member,
Treasurer (2016-2017), Contract Enforcement Committee Member (2017)
2012-present American Psychological Association, member
Division 33: Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities/Autism Spectrum Disorders (2012-
present)
Division 7: Developmental Psychology (2019-present)
2012-2013 HDFS Graduate Program Committee Student Representative
2011-2018 HDFS Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Member (UW-Madison);
Social Chair (2016-2017)
Honors
2018 Schurch-Thomson Graduate Research Excellence Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
School of Human Ecology
2013, 2016 Travel Scholarship Recipient, UW-Madison, HDFS Department
2012, 2013 Graduate Conference Scholarship, UW-Madison, School of Human Ecology
C. Contributions to Science
1. My early publications focused mainly on social support and the parent couple relationship in families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with a particular focus on fathers and their role in the family. I contributed to the paucity of knowledge in the field about fathers, how mothers and fathers support each other, and parent couple interactions. These publications document the importance of parent social support and interventions that focus on supporting the parent couple relationship in families of children with ASD. Further, they highlight the important role and contribution of fathers in these families.
a. Hartley, S. L., Papp, L. M., Mihaila, I., Bussanich, P. M., Goetz, G., & Hickey, E. J. (2017). Couple Conflict in Parents of Children with versus without Autism: Self-Reported and Observed Findings. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 26(8), 2152-2165. doi: 10.1007/s10826-017-0737-1.
b. Hickey, E. J., Dubois, L., & Hartley, S. L. (2018). Positive and negative social exchanges experienced by fathers and mothers of children with autism. Autism, 22(4), 469-478. doi: 10.1177/1362361316687117.
c. Hartley, S. L., Hickey, E. J., DaWalt, L. S., & Rodriguez, G. (2019). Broader autism phenotype and couple interactions in parents of children with autism. Autism. doi: 10.1177/1362361319841312.
2. In addition to the contributions described above, I directly investigated parent-child relationships, as well as parent couple relationships, within families who have a child with autism. Using a sample of mothers and fathers of children initially aged 5-12 with ASD, my work incorporated longitudinal and multi-level modeling techniques to explore the relation between parent-child and parent couple relationships in families over time, and the impact on child outcomes. Employing a family systems perspective, my research documented (1) the relation between parenting stress and depression and the quality of parents own and their partners parent-child relationship; (2) how the emotional quality of the mother-child, father-child, and parent couple relationship combine to create family-level classes of emotional climate, and family characteristics (e.g., child autism symptoms and behavior problems, parent level of the broader autism phenotype) that were associated with family emotional climate class; and (3) how changes in parent-child relationship quality predict changes in autism symptoms and child behavior problems over time.
a. Hickey, E. J., Nix, R. L., Hartley, S. L. (2019). Family emotional climate and children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-019-04037-6.
b. Hickey, E. J., Hartley, S. L., Papp, L. M. (2019). Psychological Well-Being and Parent-Child Relationship Quality in Relation to Child Autism: An Actor-Partner Modeling Approach. Family Process. doi: 10.1111/famp.12432.
c. Hickey, E. J., Bolt, D., Rodriguez, G., Hartley, S. L. (2020). Bidirectional relations between parent warmth and criticism and the characteristics and behavior challenges of children with autism. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s10802-020-00628-5.
3. My more recent work has focused on diverse, low income families of children currently, or recently, involved in the process of obtaining an autism diagnosis. This work has allowed me to offer a family systems lens to the body of research on autism screening, diagnosis, and early intervention. My research builds understanding of parent and family well-being over time, throughout the time in which families are going through the diagnostic process in a sample of diverse, low-income, urban families. I have contributed to this work through my involvement in the preparation of several manuscripts related to parenting stress, impact on the family, and the potential harms of autism screening.
a. Broder-Fingert, S., Stadnick, N., Hickey, E. J., Goupil, J., & Feinberg, E. (2019). Short Report: Defining the core concepts of family navigation for autism. Autism. doi: 10.1177/1362361319864079.
b. Hickey, E. J., Sheldrick, R. C., Kuhn, J., Broder-Fingert, S. (2020). A commentary on interpreting the United States Preventative Services Task Force autism screening recommendation statement. Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice. doi: 10.1177/1362361320957463.
c. Voliovitch, Y., Leventhal, J. M., Fenick, A. M., Gupta, A. R., Feinberg, E., Hickey, E. J., Shabanova, V., Weitzman, C. (2021). Parenting stress and its associated components prior to an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnostic evaluation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi: 10.1007/s10803-020-04804-w.
d. Feinberg, E., Augustyn, M., Broder-Fingert, S., Bennett, A., Weitzman, C., Kuhn, J., Hickey, E., Chu, A., Levinson, J., Eilenberg, J. S., Silverstein, M., Cabral, H., Patts, G., Diaz-Linhart, Y., Rosenberg, J., Miller, J., Guevara, J., Fenick, A., & Blum, N. (2021). Effect of Family Navigation on Diagnostic Ascertainment Among Children at Risk for Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial from DBPNet. JAMA Pediatrics. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.5218.
e. Kuhn, J., Levinson, J., Udhnani, M., Wallis, K., Hickey, E., Bennett, A., Fenick, A., Feinberg, E., Broder-Fingert, S. (2021). What happens after a positive primary care autism screen among historically underserved families? Predictors of evaluation and autism diagnosis. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000928
f. Hickey, E. J., Stransky, M., Kuhn, J., Rosenberg, J., Weitzman, C., Cabral, H., Broder-Fingert, S., & Feinberg, E. (2021). Parent stress and coping trajectories in Hispanic and non-Hispanic families of children at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Autism: International Journal of Research and Practice. doi: 10.1177/13623613211001611
