Nancy J. Minshew Professor, Psychiatry and Neurology University of Pittsburgh Phone: (412) 246-5485 Fax: (412) 246-5470 Email: minshewnj@upmc.edu Individual Website: http://www.pittautismresearch.org

M.D., Washington University School of Medicine Research Interests I am a behavioral child neurologist. My focus for the past 20 years has been the investigation of the cognitive, neurologic, and neural basis of autism. Most recently, we have added investigation of the family genetics of autism. This research has led to evidence of autism as a selective disorder of complex information processing with sparing of simple information processing. Eye movement studies have provided evidence of selective involvement of neocortical systems and of reduced computational capacity. Structural imaging studies have revealed evidence of over development of local brain circuitry and underdevelopment of longer distance connections. MRS studies have provided evidence of undersynthesis and increased degradation of brain membranes and of disjointed temporal development of brain membranes. Future research will continue in these areas with a focus on neural systems organization, neuronal organizational events, and new areas of cognition such as prototype formation, facial recognition, and social cognition. This work is being done in collaboration with Drs. Bernie Devlin, Bill Eddy, Gerald Goldstein, Marcel Just, Marlene Behrmann, Mark Strauss, Bea Luna, and John Sweeney, and Diane Williams. Recent Publications Minshew NJ, Turner CA, Goldstein G. The application of short forms of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales in adults and children with high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2005, 35(1):45-52. Williams DL, Goldstein G, Carpenter PA, Minshew NJ. Verbal and spatial working memory in autism, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2005, 35:6; 747-756. Williams DL, Goldstein G, Minshew NJ. Impaired memory for faces and social scenes in autism: Clinical implications of the memory disorder. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2005, 20:1-15. Behrmann M, Avidan G, Leonard G, Kimchi R, Luna B, Humphreys K, Minshew NJ. Configural processing in autism and its relationship to face processing. Neuropsychologia, 2005, 44:1; 110-129. Williams DL, Goldstein G, Minshew NJ. The profile of memory function in children with autism. Neuropsychology 2006, 20:1; 21-29. Williams DL, Goldstein G, Minshew NJ. Neuropsychologic functioning in children with autism: Further evidence for disordered complex information-processing. Child Neuropsychology, 2006, 12:279-298. Hardan AY, Keshavan MS, Sucheeta S, Velumapalli M, Minshew NJ. An MRI study of minor physical anomalies in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, April 2006, 36:607-611. Kana RK, Keller TA, Cherkassky V, Minshew NJ, Just MA. Sentence comprehension in autism: thinking in pictures with decreased functional connectivity. Brain, (online July 2006). Just MA, Cherkassky VL, Keller TA, Kana RK, Minshew NJ. Functional and anatomical cortical underconnectivity in autism: Evidence from an fMRI study of an executive function task and corpus callosum morphometry. Cerebral Cortex, 16:7, July 2006. Minshew NJ, Sung K, Jones B, Furman JM. Underdevelopment of the postural control system in autism. Neurology, Dec 2004, 63:11;2056-2061. Just MA, Cherkassky VL, Keller TA, Minshew NJ. Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: Evidence of underconnectivity. Brain, 2004, 127:6; 1-11. Hardan AY, Jou R, Keshavan MS, Varma R, Minshew NJ. Increased frontal cortical folding in autism: a preliminary MRI study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 2004, 131; 263-268.