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Whitney Guthrie, PhD
Whitney Guthrie
Scientist

Whitney Guthrie, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and scientist at the Center for Autism Research. Dr. Guthrie’s research focuses on the early developmental trajectories that characterize autism spectrum disorder with the ultimate goal of improving early detection and intervention.

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Bio

Dr. Guthrie's current grants are focused on the development of novel screening tools to be used in primary care, using a variety of methods. She utilizes electronic health records to evaluate current screening tools and develop new methods of identifying infants at toddlers at risk for ASD. She also collaborates with computer vision experts to develop and test interactive, video-based early detection methods.

Dr. Guthrie has several noteworthy career achievements:

  • Autism Speaks Predoctoral Fellowship Award
  • Young Investigator Award, Autism Speaks Toddler Treatment Network
  • Autism Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
  • NICHD Loan Repayment Award (2017-2019) and Renewal (2019-2021)

Education and Training

PhD, Florida State University (Clinical Psychology), 2016

MS, Florida State University (Clinical Psychology), 2012

BA, Pepperdine University (Psychology), 2006

Titles and Academic Titles

Clinical Psychologist and Scientist, Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Core Faculty, Clinical Futures

Co-director, Data and Statistical Core, Center for Autism Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine

Professional Memberships

International Society for Autism Research, 2007-

Society for Research in Child Development, 2013-

Professional Awards

Dissertation Research Grant, Florida State University, 2014

Graduate Research Development Award, Florida State University, 2015

Ermine M. Owenby Jr. Fund to Promote Excellence, 2015

Young Investigator Award, Autism Speaks Toddler Treatment Network, 2015

Jane M. West Fellowship, 2015

Student Travel Award, International Society for Autism Research, 2016

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Loan Repayment Award, 2017-2019

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Loan Repayment Award, 2019-2021

Publication Highlights

Guthrie W, Wallis K, Bennett A, Brooks E, Dudley J, Gerdes M, Pandey J, Levy SE, Schultz RT, Miller JS. Accuracy of autism screening in a large pediatric network. Pediatrics. 2019 Oct; 2019 Oct;144(4). pii: e20183963. doi: 10.1542/peds.2018-3963. PMID:31562252
Wetherby AM, Woods J, Guthrie W, Delehanty A, Brown JA, Morgan L, Holland RD, Schatschneider C, Lord CE. Changing developmental trajectories of toddlers with autism spectrum disorder: Strategies for bridging research to community practice. J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2018 Nov; 61(3): 2615-2628. PubMed PMID: 30418491
Wetherby, AM, Guthrie W, Woods J, Schatschneider C, Holland R, Morgan L, Lord CE. Parent-implemented social intervention for toddlers with autism: An RCT. Pediatrics. 2014 Dec; 134(6): 1084-1093. PubMed PMID: PMC4243066
Guthrie W, Swineford L, Lord CE, Wetherby AM. Comparison of DSM-IV and DSM-5 factor structure models for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2013 Aug; 52(8): 797-805.e2. PubMed PMID: 3830978
Guthrie W, Swineford L, Nottke C, Wetherby AM. Early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder: Stability and change in clinical diagnosis and symptom presentation. J Child Psych Psychiatry. 2013 May; 54(5), 582-590. PubMed PMID: 3556369

Active Grants/Contracts

Computational Analysis of Interpersonal Synchrony: A Lens into the Early Emergence of Autism

  • Eagles Autism Foundation
  • 2020-2022
  • The goal of this project is to leverage an automated measure of interactional synchrony between infants and caregivers in order to quantify behavioral and biological aspects of this early marker of autism risk
  • PI: Guthrie and Tunc

Predicting Autism and Social Functioning from Computer Vision Analyses of Motor Synchrony during Dyadic Interactions

  • National Institute of Mental Health
  • 2019-2023
  • The goal of this project is to use innovative computational approaches to address the pressing need for granular, scalable phenotyping methods that quantify social communication skills in autism
  • PI: Schultz
  • Role: Co-Investigator

Autism Adaptive Community-based Treatment to Improve Outcomes using Navigators Network

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • 2017-2022
  • The goal of the Autism ACTION Network - an interdisciplinary network of 8 institutions - is to blend clinical effectiveness and implementation research designs to study individual and combined effects of two evidence-based interventions in real world settings
  • PI: Wetherby
  • Role: Consortium PI

Computable Phenotype for Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • Eagles Charitable Foundation
  • 2018-2020
  • The goal of this study is to leverage the extensive health records for children with ASD within the CHOP system to develop a computable phenotype for ASD diagnosis that will index risk for an ASD diagnosis, from electronic health records based markers
  • PI:Guthrie

Secondary Data Analysis of Universal Autism Screening in a Large Primary Care Network: The Impact of Early Autism Screening on Age of Diagnosis, Referral, and Entry into Intervention

  • National Institute of Mental Health
  • 2018-2020
  • This project will conduct examine whether universal screening results in earlier identification and earlier treatment entry for children with autism
  • PI: Miller
  • Role: Co-Investigator

Intellectual and Development Disabilities Research Center: Clinical Translational - Core B

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
  • 2015-2020
  • The major goal of this project is to provide investigators with a set of research participant recruitment and remote phenotyping services that enhance the productivity of the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center (IDDRC)
  • PI: Schultz
  • Role: Director, Recruitment and Cohort Selection

Infant Vocalizations as Early Markers of Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
  • 2019-2021
  • The goal of this R03 is to characterize longitudinal vocal development in infants and toddlers at risk for ASD and use these metrics to predict subsequent diagnosis and dimensional social/language abilities
  • PI: Parish-Morris
  • Role: Co-Investigator

Links of Interest