Expert for Media Profile
Pediatrics, Brain Sciences
Sophie Molholm, Ph.D.
- Professor, Department of Pediatrics (Developmental Medicine)
- Professor, Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience
- Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Co-Director, Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
- Muriel and Harold Block Faculty Scholar in Mental Illness Department of Pediatrics
Area of Expertise
View Faculty ProfileExpert Summary
Dr. Molholm is a leader in the field of multisensory integration and focuses her research on developmental disorders, with an emphasis on autism, and on rare genetic conditions. She studies how the human brain processes and integrates sensory inputs—sight, sound, and touch—to impact perception and behavior. She also studies higher order processes such as attention and executive function, and how these interact with lower order cortical processes. Using non-invasive techniques, including brainwave electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Dr. Molholm examines the link between deficits in information processing and autism, and how these relate to different neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions.
Dr. Molholm has received research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Simons Foundation, and other private foundations. She is a member of numerous organizations, including the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, International Multisensory Research Forum, Society for Neuroscience and the International Society for Autism Research. She is section editor for the European Journal of Neuroscience and has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed research studies, review articles, commentaries, and book chapters.