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Jennifer Pinto-Martin, a professor in the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, is a leading researcher in the nature and detection of autism spectrum disorder.

She is also the director of Penn Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology, which is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  CADDRE is engaged in research to discover the reasons behind the increased prevalence of ASD.

"As an epidemiologist, I feel it is essential to work towards understand-ing the underlying cause of autism spectrum disorder, for which there is no effective medical prevention or cure," Dr. Pinto-Martin said. "Uncovering the reasons for the rise and prevalence of ASD is one critically important first-step for medical research."

As part of her efforts to study autism, of Dr. Pinto-Martin has pioneered a screening program for toddlers designed to detect children at risk for autism as early as 18 months. The program relies on a standardized parental ques-tionnaire given by nurses in doctors' offices and has proven helpful in identi-fying children who need further evaluation by a developmental pediatrician to determine if they have autism.

"If we can screen children as part of a routine health check, we could find autism earlier so that interventions can be initiated sooner and more suc-cessfully," Dr. Pinto-Martin said.