Maureen Durkin
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison
DrPH, MPH, Columbia University
Professor, Departments of Population Health Sciences and Pediatrics

Contact Information:
Waisman Center
UW-Madison
1500 Highland Avenue, Room S101E
Madison, WI 53705
608-263-7507
608-263-2128
E-mail: mdurkin@wisc.edu

Research Statement

Maureen Durkin is an epidemiologist, Waisman Center investigator, Professor of Population Health Sciences and Pediatrics, and Affiliate of the Wisconsin Public Health and Health Policy Institute and the Center for Demography and Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research interests include the epidemiology, prevention, antecedents and consequences of neurodevelopmental disabilities and childhood injuries, both globally and within the United States. She has collaborated in the development of cross-cultural methods for screening for developmental disabilities and methods for surveillance of childhood injuries, and has directed international studies of the prevalence and causes of neurodevelopmental disabilities in low income countries. She has also directed a cohort study of neuropsychological outcomes of neonatal brain injuries associated with preterm birth, and is currently a principal investigator on the Wisconsin Surveillance of Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities System, the National Childrens Study Waukesha County Vanguard Center, and a study of neurodevelopmental outcomes of 2-Methylbutyryl-CoA Dehydrogenase Deficiency detected in newborn screening.

Representative Publications

Durkin MS, Maenner MJ, Newschaffer CJ, Lee LC, Cunniff CM, Daniels JL, Kirby RS, Leavitt L, Miller L, Zahorodny W, Schieve LA. (2008) Advanced parental age and the risk of autism spectrum disorder. American Journal of Epidemiology, 168:1268-76.

Yeargin-Allsopp M, Van Naarden Braun K, Doernberg NS, Benedict RE, Kirby RS, Durkin MS. (2008) Prevalence of cerebral palsy in three areas of the United States: a multisite collaboration. Pediatrics;121(3):547-54.

Durkin MS, Gottlieb C, Maenner MJ, Cappa C, Loaiza E, et al, Monitoring Child Disability in Developing Countries: Results from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. 2008, New York: UNICEF

Durkin MS, Gottlieb C. (2009) Prevention versus protection: Reconciling global public health and human rights perspectives on childhood disability, Disability and Health Journal; 2009; 2:7-8.

Arneson C, Durkin MS, Maenner MJ, Benedict R, Doernberg N, Kirby R, Van Naarden Braun K, Yeargin-Allsopp M. (2009) Prevalence of cerebral palsy: Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, three sites, United States, 2004. Disability and Health Journal, 2009; 2:45-8.

Khan NZ, Ferdous S, Islam R, Sultana A, Durkin MS, McConachie H. (2008) Behaviour Problems in Young Children in Rural Bangladesh. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics 2008.

Shattuck P, Durkin MS, Maenner MJ; Newschaffer C, Mandell DS, Wiggins L, Lee LC, Rice C, Giarelli E, Kirby R, Baio Pinto-Martin J, Cuniff C, The Timing of Identification among Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: Findings from a Population-Based Surveillance Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (in press).

Mandell DS, Wiggins LS, Carpenter LA, Daniels J, Diguiseppi C, Durkin MS, Giarelli E, Morrier MJ, Nicholas JS, Pinto-Martin JA, Shattuck PT, Thomas KC, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Kirby RS. (2009) Racial/ethnic disparities in the identification of children with autism spectrum disorders. American Journal of Public Health. Mar; 99(3):493-8.