About

Micah Mazurek serves as the Novartis U.S. Foundation Professor of Education at the University of Virginia's School of Education and Human Development. She is a clinical psychologist with broad experience in psychological assessment and intervention, specializing in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Mazurek is the director of UVA’s Supporting Transformative Autism Research (STAR) program and the Blue Ridge Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (Blue Ridge LEND) program. Her work focuses on developing new tools for outcome assessment, innovative models for intervention, and methods to improve access to care for underserved populations. She has been actively involved in efforts to enhance the quality of autism care through training, capacity-building, and dissemination of best-practice guidelines and toolkits. Her research has been funded by prominent agencies including the NIH, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, Autism Speaks, and the Simons Foundation. Her projects address co-occurring issues in children with autism, such as sensory, sleep, anxiety, and aggression problems, as well as screen-based technology use in children and adults with autism.

Research topics

• Psychiatry
• Medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Psychology
• Family medicine
• Nursing
• Social psychology
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Psychosocial Functioning Mediates Parental Depression and Sleep in Autistic Children

  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · 2025-08-22

  article
  PublisherDOI

• First Responders’ Knowledge of and Training Needs in Autism: An Integration of Key Perspectives and Evidence-Based Practice

  Research Square · 2025-12-10

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A systematic review of psychosocial interventions to reduce parenting stress and strain among caregivers of autistic children

  Research in Autism · 2025-11-29

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Associations Among Demographic and Clinical Characteristics and Discrimination Experiences of Autistic Youth

  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · 2025-09-04 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Cardiac Autonomic Measures Predict Clinician-Rated Anxiety and Behavioral Response to Propranolol in Autistic Children and Young Adults

  Journal of Personalized Medicine · 2025-07-03 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Propranolol, a nonselective beta-adrenergic antagonist, has shown potential for improving anxiety in autistic individuals. Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive cardiac marker of autonomic nervous system functioning, may help identify individuals most likely to benefit from propranolol. Objectives: Determine if baseline resting HRV and other cardiac measures predict the response to propranolol for anxiety and core autism symptomology in autistic children and young adults. Methods: Sixty-two autistic individuals (ages 7–24) participated in a two-phase (i.e., a 12-week randomized controlled trial and a 12-week open-label extension) trial of propranolol. Baseline (i.e., resting state, prior to treatment) HRV and other cardiac measures were obtained from an electrocardiogram. Clinical global impression for anxiety symptoms and overall behavioral treatment impact were assessed after the 12-week trial period. Group-level (i.e., all participants) and responder groups (i.e., strong, minimal, and non-responders to propranolol) were analyzed for treatment effects. Results: HRV variables predicted group-level anxiety response to propranolol, particularly for strong responders. Also, lower baseline values of parasympathetic HRV indices were significantly correlated with greater behavioral improvement after treatment with propranolol. Last, several baseline cardiac variables were associated with improvement in multiple behavioral domains after treatment with propranolol. Conclusions: HRV may be a potential biomarker for predicting reduced anxiety and behavioral symptoms in response to propranolol in autistic children and young adults. Identifying autonomic profiles associated with positive treatment outcomes could guide future personalized interventions in autism. The results presented herein should be regarded as preliminary until the findings are replicated in future clinical trials.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Work Participation of Autistic Adolescents

  Intellectual and developmental disabilities · 2025-01-28 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  This study sought to compare frequency of paid work by autistic adolescents to paid work by adolescents with other neurodevelopmental disorders and typically developing adolescents, and to examine whether demographic and clinical characteristics were associated with autistic adolescent employment with data from 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. Rate of paid work was significantly lower in the autistic group (22.01%) than typically developing (49.38%) and other neurodevelopmental disorders (44.27%) groups. Younger age, lower household income, co-occurring intellectual disability, and more severe autism were associated with lower odds of an autistic adolescent having worked. This study indicates that work disparities impacting autistic individuals begin in youth and highlights the need for improved vocational support to address employment barriers for autistic youth.

  PublisherDOI

• Prevalence of discrimination experienced by autistic youth as compared to neurotypical youth and youth with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses

  Autism · 2025-01-10 · 7 citations

  articleSenior author

  Autistic adults have reported experiencing discrimination across settings. Nonetheless, population-based research examining the prevalence of discrimination against autistic individuals has been more limited. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of types of discrimination (i.e., due to race or ethnicity, due to sexual orientation or gender identity, and due to health condition or disability) experienced by autistic youth ( n = 2339) compared to youth with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses (i.e. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, learning disability, and speech or other language disorder; n = 10,325) and neurotypical youth ( n = 44,781) 6–17 years of age utilizing a large, population-based sample. Data for this study were acquired from the 2021–2022 National Survey of Children’s Health, a nationally distributed caregiver-report questionnaire. Results found that the prevalence of discrimination due to race or ethnicity and sexual orientation or gender identity was higher among autistic youth than neurotypical youth. Notably, results also found that discrimination due to health condition or disability was far more prevalent among autistic youth than neurotypical youth and youth with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Findings highlight the increased prevalence of discrimination experienced by autistic youth and should prompt researchers, policymakers, and vested community members to action to address this problem. Lay abstract Autistic individuals have described facing unfair or discriminatory treatment across settings, such as in school and at work. However, there have been few studies examining how widespread or prevalent discrimination is against autistic individuals. We aimed to fill that gap by examining how prevalent or common it is for autistic youth to experience discrimination based on race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, and health condition or disability. We compared rates of discrimination against autistic youth to youth without developmental differences/diagnoses and youth with other developmental differences (i.e. youth diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], learning disability, and speech/language disorders). We analyzed data from the 2021–2022 National Survey of Children’s Health, which is a nationwide survey on which parents report about aspects of their children’s lives. We found that autistic youth experience higher rates of discrimination based on race or ethnicity and sexual orientation or gender identity compared to youth who are typically developing and do not have a diagnosis (such as a speech or language disorder). Importantly, they also face significantly more discrimination due to their disability than youth with other diagnoses, such as ADHD, and youth without a developmental diagnosis. These results show that autistic youth are at risk for experiencing discriminatory treatment. Our study should motivate researchers, policymakers, and community members to address this critical issue.

  PublisherDOI

• Building Capacity: A Systematic Review of Training in the Diagnosis of Autism for Community‐Based Clinicians

  Autism Research · 2025-03-05 · 4 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  In an effort to reduce the "waitlist crisis," researchers have developed training programs to educate community-based clinicians in best-practice autism diagnostic assessments. This systematic review aims to synthesize the effectiveness and implementation outcomes of such trainings. The following databases were searched from inception until August 2023: PubMed, Web of Science, APA PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, and a select number from Google Scholar. Ten studies were included in the present review because they met the following criteria: development and/or evaluation of a training for practicing community-based clinicians to diagnose autism, published full-text in English, and original research. Risk of bias was assessed through an adapted NIH quality assessment tool. Only seven distinct training programs in autism diagnosis for practicing community-based clinicians were identified. Trainings demonstrated preliminary efficacy in the improvement of clinician knowledge, self-efficacy, practice behavior, and diagnostic accuracy. Many of the trainings had a reported positive impact on the community and were feasible to participate in; however, systems-level factors (e.g., time and reimbursement) remain as barriers to community-based diagnosis. Findings from the present review position clinician training as a promising strategy to increase families' timely access to an autism diagnosis. More research on training models is needed due to both the limited number of trainings and the limited reported effectiveness and implementation outcomes. Future implementation studies are also needed to reduce systems-level barriers and to aid in the determination of what trainings best fit the needs of different contexts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Power of ECHO Autism: Improving Confidence and Holistic Care for Autistic Adults

  Journal of Intellectual Disability Research · 2025-12-10

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  BACKGROUND: Autistic adults describe difficulties accessing high-quality primary care services. Primary care practitioners (PCPs) report a lack of confidence and knowledge in working with autistic adults. The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) model is a longitudinal clinician education program that utilises a 'hub and spoke' model, community-building strategies and peer case-based learning to improve the care of patients with medical complexity. METHODS: The present study utilised the ECHO model ('ECHO Autism Adult Healthcare') to train PCPs in how to best care for autistic adults. We used a qualitative approach to examine the PCPs' subjective experiences of participating in the training. We used a qualitative descriptive framework to explore the experiences of 22 PCPs who completed the ECHO Autism Adult Healthcare program. Semi-structured Zoom interviews examined the support and education needs of PCPs and the benefits and challenges of the program. Three researchers worked collaboratively to code transcripts, testing inter-rater reliability to establish reliability and coding consistency. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: (1) the benefits of hearing from a wide range of perspectives, (2) establishing and supporting an interactive and engaging climate, (3) building a sense of community and (4) the meaningfulness and usability of resources and information. Overall, participants appreciated the multidisciplinary hub team members' expertise, especially those with lived experiences. Several participants enjoyed the ECHO format, as it encourages active discussion and engagement. PCPs indicated that they felt connected with the hub team and participants. They remarked on the usefulness of provided resources and their ability to implement them into clinical care. CONCLUSION: These results can guide the development and implementation of future training programs. The ECHO model has the potential to become a best practice for delivering medical education. Broad implementation of the ECHO model shows significant benefits for PCPs and patients with medical complexity compared to more traditional forms of CME.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Autistic Youth’s Psychotherapy Service Use

  Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research · 2025-06-03

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Autistic youth have a high co-occurrence of mental health challenges and a resultant high need for mental health treatment. However, they experience mental health service disparities compared to non-autistic youth. Social determinants of health (SDH) may contribute to mental health service disparities among autistic youth, yet this has not been previously examined. Therefore, the present study utilized a validated composite of children's SDH to examine whether autistic youth with better SDH were more likely to use psychotherapy services compared to those with poor SDH using state-level records of insurance billing claims data (2019 All-Payer Claims Database). 700 autistic youth with a co-occurring mental health condition were included in analyses. One or more claim records for psychotherapy CPT codes were used as indicators of psychotherapy service use. SDH was assessed using the Childhood Opportunity Index, a continuous composite measure of neighborhood SDH. The predictive effect of SDH on psychotherapy use were examined, while examining covariates of insurance type and age. Approximately 70% of the sample did not use any psychotherapy services. Inconsistent with findings from non-autistic samples, autistic youth's SDH did not predict their likelihood of using psychotherapy services; rather, those with low and high opportunity alike did not access psychotherapy. Age increased the likelihood, and using Medicaid decreased the likelihood of psychotherapy service use. These results may highlight the compounded barriers to psychotherapy that autistic youth may experience, including the paucity of mental health providers who accept Medicaid and accept autistic youth clients.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• The Autism Impact Measure: A New Tool for Treatment Outcome Measurement

  NIH · $3.9M · 2013–2018

Frequent coauthors

• Stephen M. Kanne

  Center for Autism and Related Disorders

  67 shared

• Kristin Sohl

  University of Missouri

  48 shared

• Roma A. Vasa

  38 shared

• Jeremy Veenstra‐VanderWeele

  New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

  27 shared

• Christopher R. Engelhardt

  26 shared

• Michelle Menezes

  25 shared

• David Q. Beversdorf

  University of Missouri

  22 shared

• Christina S. McCrae

  University of South Florida

  20 shared

Labs

• Supporting Transformative Autism ResearchPI