URADD Team
URADD Team
Leadership
Deborah Bilder, MD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Utah. She holds adjunct appointments in the departments of Pediatrics and Educational Psychology. She completed the triple board residency program (Pediatrics, General Psychiatry, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) at the University of Utah and maintains board certification in all three specialties. Following residency, she participated in the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (URLEND) and is now a consultant for this program. Her clinical expertise is in psychiatric assessment and treatment for individuals across the lifespan with severe neurodevelopmental disabilities. Dr. Bilder is the Principal Investigator for the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities and investigates peri- and neonatal risk factors for neurodevelopmental disabilities. She also leads a research team that develops clinical paradigms to assess and treat distress in teenagers and adults with developmental disabilities.
Amanda Bakian, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah, Director of the Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and Principal Investigator of the Utah Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Project. Dr. Bakian joined URADD in 2010 while completing her training in biostatistics and ecology from Utah State University. As URADD Director, Dr. Bakian is interested in improving public health surveillance efforts for autism, and disentangling autism’s complex etiology including the influence of environmental, prenatal, geographic, and sociodemographic factors on autism prevalence. Further, her research examines how environmental exposures that work in the proinflammatory response pathway including ambient air pollution and meteorological exposures interact with underlying phenotypic and genetic characteristics to incur risk of psychiatric conditions including autism spectrum disorder and suicide.
William McMahon, M.D., is the cofounder of URADD and the FMR. Principal Investigator of URADD, Principal Investigator of UT-ADDM, and the Chairman of the University of Utah’s Department of Psychiatry. Specializing in Tourette Disorder and Autism, he has conducted extensive research in both fields over the past several decades. His experience in the epidemiology of autism dates back to the mid-1980’s when he conducted the first autism prevalence study in the United States, which was based here in Utah. He has been involved with URADD and UT-ADDM for over ten years.
Investigators
Anne Kirby is a member of the URADD team who researches the experiences and needs of autistic adolescents and their families, as well as mental health challenges experienced by the autistic community. Her clinical background is as an occupational therapist. Dr. Kirby was a full-time faculty member at the University of Utah in the Department of Occupational and Recreational Therapies from 2015-2025. She now continues her work as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Utah Department of Psychiatry and Huntsman Mental Health Institute while working in Ireland at Trinity College Dublin.
Jim VanDerslice, MSEE, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Division of Public Health and an environmental epidemiologist who focuses on methods to assess community exposures and the relationships between these exposures and a wide variety of health outcomes. His research focuses on evaluating human exposures to chemical and microbiological hazards in the environment. He is currently working on studies of the impacts of poor ambient air quality on suicide, pneumonia, sperm quality, carcinoid and testicular cancer and pre-term birth. Dr. VanDerslice also has a long-standing interest in the impacts of poor drinking water quality, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in low-resource settings and the engineering, social and economic systems needed for sustainable improvements in WASH.
M. Sean Esplin, MD is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and the subspecialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Esplin's main areas of interest are the genetic control of term and preterm labor and the role of inflammation in preterm birth. Dr. Esplin is currently involved in several ongoing research projects sponsored by the National Institutes of Health aimed at identifying markers of preterm birth and obstetric complications.
Sara Grineski is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Utah (UU). At UU, she also co-directs the Center for Natural and Technological Hazards and serves on the leadership committee for the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy. Dr. Grineski’s research focuses on environmental health, environmental injustice and children’s health. She has been working with URADD data since 2020 and is conducting a series of studies focused on prenatal environmental exposures and intellectual disabilities.
Staff
Maddy graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in psychology and a minor in nutrition and joined the UT-ADDM/URADD research team soon after as a Research Assistant/Data Abstractor. In the future she hopes to continue her education and pursue a master's degree in psychology or nutrition (with a focus on ASD gastrointestinal issues).
Moira graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in psychology and environmental sustainability. She is now working with UT-ADDM/URADD as a research assistant and abstractor. She has a passion in understanding how gender, as well as environmental factors, play a role in ASD. Her future goals include reducing the amount of delayed/missed diagnoses of ASD in women and research environmental degradation as a risk factor for autism. In the future, Moira intends to continue her education in order to achieve these goals.
Tiffany received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Utah in psychology with a double minor in Sociology and Strategic Communication. After working with a team of ASD specialists as a Psychometrist, she joined the UT-ADDM/URADD team as a Research Assistant. Her interests include LGBTQIA+ understanding as related to Autism and the overlap of personality disorder diagnoses and ASD. Her educational goals include pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Connor graduated from the University of Utah with a MStat in Biostatistics and an B.S. in Applied Mathematics. After his role as psychology research assistant, he joined the UT-ADDM/URADD team as a Biostatistician/Data Manager. His interests include ASD systems of care and regional disparities in affected populations. He is interested in pursuing his career with a Ph.D. in Biostatistics/Data Science.
Isabelle graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S in Health, Society, and Policy and Family, Community, and Human Development and an Interdisciplinary Certificate of Health Communication. She received her Health Education and Promotion MPH degree from Utah State University. After graduating with her MPH, she joined the UT-ADDM/URADD as a research assistant and data abstractor. Her interest is in providing high-quality education and outreach about ASD and connecting individuals, families, and communities with the resources they need.