William I. Cohen, MD

Dr. Cohen is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the Child Development Unit and he directs the Down Syndrome Center, both located at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. He is a professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

He is the program director for the fellowship training program in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital.  He has more than 30 years of experience as a clinician-educator diagnosing and managing disorders of attention, behavior and learning.

Dr. Cohen is co-founder and co-chair of the Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group (DSMIG), and is well-known for defining best practices in caring for individuals throughout the life-span with Down syndrome. His other areas of interest include the adaptation of children and families to chronic medical conditions, doctor-patient communication and medical education.

In 2006, Dr. Cohen was inducted as a member of the first group of UPSOM faculty members to join the Academy of Master Educators.  He is co-course director for Introduction to Medical Interviewing and Advanced Medical Interviewing for first and second year students, respectively, at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Brooke S. G. Molina, PhD

Dr. Molina is associate professor of Psychiatry and Psychology and director of the Youth and Family Research Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Molina completed her doctorate at Arizona State University and a postdoctoral fellowship in ADHD and addictions at the University of Pittsburgh.  The Youth and Family Research Program (www.youthandfamilyresearch.com), which she directs collaboratively with Oscar Bukstein, MD, conducts research on the course and treatment of behavior problems (especially ADHD) and substance abuse. She is nationally recognized for her expertise on adolescent and adult outcomes for children diagnosed with ADHD and in the joint occurrence of ADHD with alcoholism and drug abuse.

Dr. Molina has been federally funded since 1995 when she and Dr. William E. Pelham of the University at Buffalo began longitudinal research on children treated for ADHD at the research-intensive ADD Program in Pittsburgh. This study, the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS) and one of the largest samples of children diagnosed with ADHD in the United States, has been ongoing for more than 10 years and has resulted in numerous publications. Dr. Molina is also a lead investigator of long-term outcomes of the children in the MTA, a widely cited NIMH-funded study of ADHD treatment at six academic centers in the United States. She is an investigator on other long-term studies of children that focus on behavior problems, alcohol consumption and drug abuse, and on studies that test treatments for these problems.

Dr. Molina regularly reviews grant applications for the National Institutes of Health, she is a member of the editorial boards for Alcohol Research and Health and the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, and she sits on the professional advisory board for CHADD (Children and Adults with ADHD).