Adriana Di Martino, MD, is a Leon Levy Research Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Associate Director of the Phyllis Green and Randolph Cōwen Institute for Pediatric Neuroscience at the NYU Child Study Center. Dr. Di Martino focuses on functional neuroimaging studies of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Her long-term goal is to establish a multidisciplinary program of research focused on the neural mechanisms that underlie these disorders. Fundamental understanding of these mechanisms is necessary to improve early identification, provide diagnostic refinements, yield novel treatments, and to lead to eventual prevention strategies.
Dr. Di Martino graduated magna cum laude from the University of Cagliari School of Medicine in Italy. She completed residency training in pediatric neurology and child and adolescent psychiatry and began her research experience in the psychopharmacology of Autism at the University of Cagliari. This work, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and Pediatric Neurology, was honored with a 2004 New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit's New Investigator's Award.
Dr. Di Martino’s current projects encompass examinations of 1) the neuronal correlates of Autism and autistic traits; and 2) the nature and extent of overlap between ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorders at the clinical, neuropsychological and brain functioning domains.
Dr. Di Martino’s most recent work has been published in Biological Psychiatry, Cerebral Cortex, and the American Journal of Psychiatry. Her work has been supported by a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. She is the principal investigator of a developmental/exploratory study (R21) to study connectivity of anterior cingulate cortex networks in adults with Autism. Dr. Di Martino has been invited to present her research results at national and international scientific conferences in the US, Italy, Germany, and Belgium.
In the News
Study Shows New Test Using MRIs May Be Useful in Diagnosis of Autism
Adriana Di Martino, MD, spoke to WebMD about new findings that suggest researchers may be getting closer to developing a test to diagnose autism spectrum disorder using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Click here to read more. (December 2, 2010)
