Molly Losh
Principal Investigator, Assistant Professor of Allied Health Sciences

Dr. Losh's primary research interest focuses on delineating the nature and basis of language impairment in autism,fragile X syndrome, and other neurogenetic disorders. Her studies adopt clinical-behavioral and family-genetic methods and designs to characterize patterns of language strengths and weaknesses that define particular disorders, and examine ties to neuropsychological and genetic underpinnings.

Gary E. Martin
Co-Investigator and Speech-Language Pathologist

Gary E. Martin, Ph.D., is an Investigator at the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC and an Adjunct Instructor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC. He is a certified member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, as well as a certified speech-language pathologist in the state of North Carolina. Gary studies the speech and language development of children with fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, and autism (with a particular emphasis on pragmatics). He received his Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from UNC, and his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. Gary also completed a clinical fellowship at The Maryland School for the Blind in Baltimore.

Jenille Adams
Research Assistant

Jenille joined UNC in May 2007 as a Social Research Assistant. She earned her M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Duke University and her B.S. at Howard University in Washington, DC. She has a strong educational background and expertise in child development research and assessment.

Emily Dillon
Research Assistant

Emily joined UNC in January as a full time research assistant since graduating from Haverford College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a B.A. in psychology in 2008. She comes from a clinical background working with children with learning and social disabilities and completed a thesis project and defense entitled "Relational schemas, motivational orientation and physical self-esteem on the physical self-concept". However, she is very happy to be continuing her work with children through the Child Development Center.

She received a grant to aid and run sessions for 'Wanna Play', a non-profit organization aimed towards developing social behaviors and peer interactions in children with deficits in these areas in 2007. Last summer she extended her internship to include the analysis and legalities of children with special needs in the education system.

Anne Edwards
Project Coordinator

Anne began her work in language research in 1992 at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Before moving to Chapel Hill, she coordinated a five-year communication study that included pre-linguistic milieu intervention with children with developmental delays and responsiveness training with their parents. She received her B.S. degree from the University of Maryland.

Bruno Estigarribia
Postdoctoral Fellow

Bruno is a linguistics researcher at the FPG Child Development Institute and the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center. He has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Linguistics from Stanford University, as well as a Maîtrise (M.A. equivalent) in Language Sciences from the Université Paris V - René Descartes - Sorbonne. At Stanford, he did work on first language acquisition, syntax, and semantics. He is interested in the processes implicated in typical and atypical language development, models of adult and child language competence, and statistical models and research methodology for linguistics and language acquisition studies.

Grace Goff
Research Assistant

Grace is a research assistant who has worked with Dr. Losh since 2007. She attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2008 with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Linguistics. She is interested in pragmatics, language development, and autistic spectrum disorders.

Anne Harris
Research Assistant

Anne joined the Carolina Communication Project four years ago after working in the publishing industry for several years. Her research interests include language development and the communication/behavior strategies used by children and families within our study population. She received a BA in English and Linguistics from Princeton University.

Christin Hopp
Research Assistant

Christin joined the Losh Labs as a research assistant after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill in 2008 with a BA in Psychology. She has had tremendous clinical experience working with children and adults with autism as well as other developmental disorders. In addition to her work with Losh Labs, Christin works with the ARC of Orange County.

Jessica Klusek
PhD Student

Jessie is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she researches language development in autism, fragile X syndrome, and other developmental disorders. Ms. Klusek’s research interests stem from her training as a speech-language pathologist; she received her B.A. and M.S. in speech-language pathology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Vanessa Loiselle
Research Assistant

Vanessa joined the Carolina Communication Project as a social research assistant. She received her BS degree in Communicative Disorders and Sciences from the State University of New York at Geneseo. She will be attending UNC in the fall to pursue a Masters degree in speech pathology. She is interested in language development and early intervention.

Cheryl Malkin
Speech-Language Pathologist 

Cheryl is a speech language pathologist for the Carolina Communication Project. She has had a variety of clinical experiences in her 23 years of practice. The focus of her pediatric practice has been in both hospital and outpatient clinic settings. She has been a member of inpatient rehabilitation and out patient developmental diagnostic teams. Cheryl has also had the opportunity to work in language-based and multi-handicapped classrooms. She has gained this varied experience as she has moved several times to accommodate her husband’s career.

Cheryl earned her B.A. Degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in Speech and Hearing Science and a M.S. Degree in Communication Disorders at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Areas of interest include language based learning disorders and augmentative communication.

Erin Marubashi
Research Assistant

Erin Marubashi is an undergraduate research assistant working toward degrees in psychology and communications. Her brother Mark's influence in her life brings personal experience to her work with individuals with autism. She has been working with Dr. Molly Losh since the fall of 2007 and has been assisting on 2 family studies of fragile X and autism.

Anne Taylor
Research Assistant

Anne Taylor coordinates the human resource and financial needs of all the grants and projects. Anne is particularly interested in sensory integration and its role in autism.

Kaitlyn Wilson
PhD Student

Kaitlyn is a speech-language pathologist and a Ph.D. student in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC. In her work with Molly Losh's lab, she studies discourse and perceptual processing in individuals with autism and the broad autism phenotype. Her research interests also include family-centered treatment, multicultural considerations, and early autism identification. After receiving her Master’s degree from UNC, Kaitlyn completed a clinical fellowship in speech-language pathology at The Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, where she worked with high school-aged individuals with a variety of strengths and needs. She is happy to be back in NC, working with such a great team of researchers.

David Zajac
Speech-Language Pathologist and Speech Scientist

David is a speech–language pathologist and speech scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Craniofacial Center. He has faculty appointments in Dentistry, Surgery, and Speech and Hearing Sciences. His research interests are in speech aerodynamics and acoustics, speech development, cleft palate speech, and management strategies for cleft palate. He is currently in the 9th year of a NIH sponsored grant that is investigating speech and respiratory aerodynamics in cleft palate. He has authored or co-authored 24 journal articles and 3 book chapters. David grew up in a small steel town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received all of his degrees from the University of Pittsburgh (undergraduate in psychology and graduate in communication disorders).

In Memoriam

Joanne Roberts

It is with great sadness that we share the news that Dr. Joanne Roberts passed away on Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Joanne was a senior scientist at FPG Child Development Institute and a professor of speech and hearing sciences of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Her early research focused on ear infections and children’s language development and helped develop evidenced-based guidelines for treating ear infections.

She then launched a series of longitudinal studies on language development in African American children. Beginning when children first entered school, she followed children through early adolescence to study the impact of vernacular dialect on literacy, and how youth, family, and school characteristics impact these relationships.

Joanne conducted extensive research on the language development of children with disabilities, specifically children with Down syndrome, autism, and fragile X syndrome. Her research on the speech and language development of children with fragile X syndrome set a new standard for rigor and quality, and provided important new insights for parents and professionals.

As a result of her work, she authored more than 125 articles published in scholarly journals.