Ellen Drumm, Ph.D. Student

Ellen is a doctoral student working with Dr. Jessica Brian at the Autism Research Centre. She is completing her Ph.D. in the School and Clinical Child Psychology program at OISE, University of Toronto. Ellen is interested in understanding what ‘good care’ looks like when clinicians share the news of a diagnosis of ASD. Her research is exploring parent perspectives of this major life event. Ellen’s research has been supported by a CIHR Autism Research Training Fellowship, CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship, Ontario Graduate Scholarships, and Kimel Family Award for Pediatric Disability Research.

Outside of school, Ellen works as a writer for the ASD Clinical Expert Committee. The Clinical Expert Committee provides advice to the Minister of Children and Youth Services on effective intervention, current research, and best clinical practices for working with children and young people with ASD. In 2011-2012, Ellen was the project manager of the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network, led by Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou at Holland Bloorview. This ongoing research project spans genetics, neuro-imaging, phenotyping, physiology, and clinical trials across individuals with ASD, ADHD, OCD, and Intellectual Disability.