Jennifer Pinto-Martin, PhD, MPH, is an internationally renowned scholar in perinatal epidemiology. Dr. Pinto-Martin began her career as an epidemiologist as the Project Director for the Neonatal Brain Hemorrhage (NBH) Study, a longitudinal study of neonatal brain injury in low birthweight infants, and has had continuous NIH support since 1984. Dr. Pinto-Martin expanded her research focus to the epidemiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder and is currently the Director and Principal Investigator of the Pennsylvania Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology (PA-CADDRE), one of six such centers funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study the etiology of ASD. Enrollment in this multi-site study began last year and will ultimately include 2,700 children. Additionally she has received funding for an investigator initiated project (R01) to assess the prevalence of ASD in the NBH cohort, thereby bringing her two major lines of research inquiry together in one project. Another area of research include: the screening and early identification of ASD and the vital role of nurses in pediatric primary care in this process. Dr. Pinto-Martin is funded by NIH-Fogarty as part of a research team with the International clinical Epidemiology Network to study the prevalence of autism and other childhood disabilities India. Screening and diagnostic instruments are being field tested now and the study will ultimately screen children from 45,000 households across India.

Dr. Pinto-Martin is now the Director of Penn’s cross-school Masters of Public Health program. She is particularly well known for her rigorous research methods, her interdisciplinary collaboration, and her mentorship of the next generation of scientists. She is the first recipient of this award who is not a nurse and yet has made major contributions to the Science of Nursing.