Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service
The Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service conducts developmental and behavioral evaluations on individuals with a variety of neurodevelopmental problems, focusing on young children and individuals of all ages with significant cognitive or social impairments. The goal of the service is to provide behavioral phenotyping for natural history and treatment studies of autism spectrum disorder and genetic disorders associated with intellectual disability, and contribute to outcome measure development for these conditions. Evaluations integrate NIH patient history with results from individually-administered standardized psychological tests, and can be completed based on clinical referral or protocol driven research questions.
Referrals
If you are an NIH Clinical Center researcher or clinician interested in requesting a consultation from the NBPS please see: https://intranet.cc.nih.gov/pedstaff/how_to/psychconsult .
Training
Current trainees include IRTA’s Alexandra Hehn and Ashley Chun; please contact Audrey Thurm if you are interested in a position as an IRTA with us!
Note: we are not taking summer students for 2024
If interested in the Clinical Psychology doctoral student practicum, please contact Ivy Giserman-Kiss and find information about options with NBPS or other NIMH entities here: NIMH » NIMH Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student Practicum Program/Externship (nih.gov)
If interested in the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Interest Group, which meets monthly for presentations and discussions to foster collaboration between various NIH Institutes involved in both basic and clinical research in this area, please see: https://oir.nih.gov/sigs/neurodevelopmental-disorders-interest-group
Staff
Audrey Thurm, Ph.D.
Director
Audrey Thurm, Ph.D. is the Director of the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-496-6768
Audrey Thurm, Ph.D.
Service Director Website
Dr. Audrey Thurm, Ph.D. received training at DePaul University and Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and conducted a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has been at NIMH since 2002, serving in the extramural program until 2006, as chief of both the Autism and Social Behavior Program, and the Compulsive Repetitive Behaviors Program. In 2006, she moved to the intramural program to help launch the autism research program. She has expertise in longitudinal studies and an interest in markers of the early diagnosis of autism as well as genetic conditions associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Lisa Joseph, Ph.D.
Psychologist and Lead Clinician
Lisa Joseph, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-402-0973
E-mail Dr. Joseph
Lisa Joseph, Ph.D. is the lead clinical child psychologist in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service at NIMH. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Palo Alto University in California. Dr. Joseph completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Warren Alpert Medical school of Brown University in the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and she joined the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program in 2008 as a research fellow. Dr. Joseph’s research interests include repetitive behaviors in neurodevelopmental disorders, identification of intellectual disability and the behavioral phenotype of neurodevelopmental disorders and rare genetic disorders, and the impact of ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders in low- and middle-income countries.
Olivia Remsberg, CRNP
Nurse Practitioner
Olivia Remsberg, CRNP is a nurse practitioner in the Neurobehavioral and Phenotyping Services who joined the team in 2024. She received her Master of Science as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Cincinnati in 2021.
Olivia Remsberg, CRNP is a nurse practitioner who joined the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service team in 2024. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Master of Science as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She completed a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Residency at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She worked previously as an ICU nurse at the University of Maryland Medical Center and the MedStar Washington Hospital Center. She started her medical career as a clinical assistant at Kennedy Krieger Institute which inspired her passion of working with those diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Cristan Farmer, Ph.D.
Psychologist and Statistician
Cristan Farmer, Ph.D. is a research psychologist in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-435-3999
E-mail Dr. Farmer
Cristan Farmer, Ph.D. is a research psychologist in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service. She received her Ph.D. in Intellectual and Developmental Disability Psychology from the Ohio State University and completed post-doctoral training in the NIMH Pediatrics and Developmental Neuroscience Branch. Dr. Farmer has expertise in statistics and psychometrics, with a particular interest in measurement challenges encountered in research with severely impaired populations. Her primary duties in the NBPS concern collaborations with multidisciplinary teams to manage, analyze, and disseminate data from a wide variety of modalities, study designs, and participant populations. Dr. Farmer is also an enthusiastic teacher, serving as a statistical consultant to trainees and colleagues throughout NIH and administering the NIMH Trainee Statistics Seminar series.
Ivy Giserman-Kiss, Ph.D.
Licensed clinical psychologist and Clinical Psychology Practicum Coordinator
Ivy Giserman-Kiss, Ph.D. is a Research Fellow in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-435-6650
E-mail Dr. Giserman-Kiss
Ivy Giserman-Kiss, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service (NBPS). She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and subsequently completed her clinical internship in pediatric neuropsychology at Rusk Rehabilitation at NYU Langone and postdoctoral fellowship at the Seaver Autism Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has extensive experience working with children with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities across clinical settings. Dr. Giserman-Kiss conducts neurodevelopmental and neuropsychological evaluations with infants, children, and adults with rare genetic conditions and serves as the Training Coordinator for NBPS clinical psychology practicum students.
Margaret Pekar M.A.
Research coordinator
Maggie Pekar M.A. is the research coordinator in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-402-1084
E-mail Ms. Pekar
Margaret Pekar is the Research Coordinator for the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service and is actively involved in patient intake and protocol regulatory activities. She received her Master of Arts degree in 1999 from Marymount University. She transitioned to the NBPS in April 2019 and has been with the National Institute of Mental Health since 1996.
Leslie Manso, M.A.
Contract data analyst
Leslie Manso, M.A., is a Contract Data Analyst in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Phenotyping Service.
301-435-7962
E-mail Ms. Manso
Leslie Manso is a Contract Data Analyst with a passion for turning numbers into insights. With a background in Memory Disorders research, she is well-versed in the art of working with both qualitative and quantitative data. Leslie’s true passion lies in uncovering trends and patterns in numeric data to create a more comprehensive understanding of complex issues. In the future, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Public Health with a focus on minority health disparities, specifically related to improving health data on the Hispanic/Latinx population at the subgroup level. Leslie is excited to use her skills and expertise to drive positive change and make a difference in the lives of those who need it most.