Graduate student Jenny Phan receives National Institutes of Health fellowship to support research on adolescent boys on autism spectrum

November 4, 2019

Jenny Phan, a doctoral student in human development and family studies, has been awarded $39,000 as the first-year installment of a 2-year fellowship from the National Institutes of Health. The F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Predoctoral Fellowship recognizes Phan as a promising predoctoral student and helps enable the individualized mentoring she is receiving from outstanding faculty sponsors as she conducts research relevant to the NIH mission.

Through her research, Phan aims to provide fact-based information about puberty and autism to help adults navigate the parenting of adolescents on the autism spectrum. In particular, she will examine the impact of pubertal maturation on the risk for internalizing symptoms in adolescent boys on the autism spectrum as well as those who show typical neurological behavior and development. Her innovative approach is targeting the internalizing symptoms and autistic behaviors of boys from a developmental perspective. She is examining puberty as a life stage during which many symptoms may be exacerbated by the biological, psychological, and sociological changes that happen concurrently within the body and brain.

Read More Announcements