Deborah P. Waber, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology
Harvard Medical School/Children's Hospital
Department of Psychiatry

MRRC Project(s)

P01 CA 68484
Maximizing the Therapeutic Index of Childhood ALL
Project 7: Enhancing Treatment Outcomes in ALL

R01 MH065877
30 Year Follow-Up of Mental Health Outcomes Following Childhood Malnutrition

Learning disabilities result from a complex of genetic, developmental, environmental and social processes. The developing brain is vulnerable to a variety of pre- and post-natal influences that can compromise functioning without causing frank mental retardation. Neurodevelopmental functioning can also reflect constitutional and genetic factors. The goal of this clinical research program is to investigate in a developmental context the influence of exogenous and endogenous factors on children's neurobehavioral functioning. Using a developmental neuropsychological approach, we have examined the impact of childhood cancer (acute lymphoblastic leukemia and brain tumors) and its therapies on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in children who survive these diseases. We have also examined outcomes associated with early malnutrition, prematurity, poverty, and neurogenetic disorders), all of which can threaten healthy brain development. Another focus of our research is idiopathic learning disabilities, where we have focused on the role of low-level information processing problems in children's difficulties adapting to academic and social demands of development. These studies have relied on neuropsychological methods complemented secondarily by cognate neurophysiological and neuroimaging techniques.