Nadler Lab
About the Team
Broadly focused on autism and developmental disabilities, the Nadler lab includes active collaborations with numerous Children’s Mercy and external investigators as well as current/previous Children's Mercy trainees. Many studies focus on health and behavioral outcomes, leveraging the ongoing Study to Explore Early Development (SEED), one of the largest longitudinal and multi-site investigations of autism and developmental disabilities. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SEED studies include investigations of injury risk in preschoolers with autism, COVID-19 infection and mitigation for youth with disabilities and changes in autism traits from preschool to adolescents.
Another major focus for the lab is the study of community-implemented evidence-based programs, including Children's Mercy's telehealth caregiver coaching for challenging behaviors in youth with developmental disabilities (Co-PI: Meredith Dreyer Gillette, PhD). Areas of investigation include caregiver engagement, child behavioral and health outcomes, and parent mental outcomes, as well as comparisons of individual vs. group telehealth service delivery models.
Finally, Dr. Nadler conducts research related to health and mental health services access for youth with autism and other developmental disabilities. Recent work in this area has focused on issues related to suicide screening by developmental and behavioral health providers, autism and precision medicine and health disparities and safety concerns in hospital-based care (e.g., restraint use, prolonged admissions and violence towards healthcare workers; Principal Investigator: Adrienne DePorre, MD). Dr. Nadler served as co-first author on the first published consensus statement on healthcare for youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities and continues to co-chair the Supporting Access for Everyone (SAFE) Initiative to advance best practices for supporting youth with disabilities in medical settings.
Leader
Cy Nadler, PhD is the Josh Barnds and Stella Carlson Endowed Professor for Autism, as well as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics for the UMKC School of Medicine. He completed his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Idaho State University, followed by an internship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute/University of Nebraska Medical Center and a fellowship at Children’s Mercy. He currently serves as the Site PI for the combined Children’s Mercy/University of Kansas Medical Center membership in the Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network (DBPNet), as well as Co-PI for Missouri’s administration of the CDC Study to Explore Early Development. Dr. Nadler routinely serves as a research mentor for psychology and medical trainees, and supports numerous other regional and national research collaborations. Dr. Nadler also directs the Children’s Mercy Autism Clinic.
- Research Areas
- Labs and Research Teams
- Baby Health and Behavior Lab
- Baby Lab
- Bactrim Lung Failure Team
- Behavioral Pain Innovations Lab
- Center for Children’s Healthy Lifestyles & Nutrition
- Community Engaged Research Team
- Developmental and Behavioral Health Research Group
- Fridley Lab
- Laboratory of Immunogenomics
- Milkovich Lab
- Nadler Lab
- Orthopedic Surgery Research Team
- Pediatric Brain Cancer Research Team/Yadav Lab
- Ramsey Lab
- Varberg Lab
- Younger Lab
Josh Barnds & Stella Carlson Endowed Professor for Autism; Section Chief, Autism Psychology; Professor of Pediatrics, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine