Brenda Hussey-Gardner

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Dr. Hussey-Gardner has more than 25 years of research and clinical experience with infants, toddlers, and their families. Currently, Dr. Hussey-Gardner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where she is the Director of Maryland’s PRIDE. Since 2000, Dr. Hussey-Gardner has received over $2.5 million dollars in grants to operate and study this program that provides early intervention services in collaboration with the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), NICU Follow-Up Program and general pediatrics clinic at the University of Maryland Hospital. She is also the coordinator of the NICU Follow-Up Program where she oversees more than 1,000 patient visits per year. In addition, she is the developmental specialist in the NICU.

University Instructor.
Dr. Hussey-Gardner also holds an adjunct position with the Psychology Department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on developmental psychology, parenting, children with disabilities, early intervention, and infants born prematurely. Anonymous student reviews consistently rank her as one of the top instructors at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Author & Presenter.
Dr. Hussey-Gardner has been the author or co-author of 17 articles published in peer-reviewed journals, she has co-authored 3 textbook chapters, and has developed 6 web-based professional training modules. In addition, she has given 139 invited speeches at national, regional, and local conferences; 87 peer-reviewed, national and regional presentations; and has participated in 30 television, radio, magazine or internet interviews regarding child development. In addition, Dr. Hussey-Gardner has developed and published a number of resources that are used by professionals serving infants and toddlers, and by the families themselves. These publications include: Understanding My Signals: Help for Parents of Premature Infants (currently in its third edition), Taking Care of Me: Help for Parents of New Babies, Parenting to Make a Difference: Your One to Four Year Old Child, Best Beginnings: Helping Parents Make a Difference, and PPOD: Parents & Pediatricians Optimizing Development. She is also the creator of the Best Beginnings Developmental Screen, a tool for screening developmental milestone attainment and quality of performance in adaptive, social-emotional, fine motor, cognitive, language, and gross motor domains of children from birth to 39 months of age.

Advocate.
Dr. Hussey-Gardner has a history of advocating for children with developmental delays in Maryland. She has been a member of the Maryland State Interagency Coordinating Council since 2006, an Executive Board member since 2007, and in 2011 she became the Chair of this council whose job is to advise and assist the early childhood intervention and education system of services in Maryland. At the state level, she has conducted research to substantiate and change high probability conditions for early intervention eligibility in Maryland. Her research led to inclusion of infants with chronic lung disease and surgical necrotizing entereocolitis. In addition, Dr. Hussey-Gardner led the effort to create the Maryland Infants and Toddlers Program Physician’s Guide, released in 2009. Her advocacy work related to the use of adjusted age for infants and toddlers born prematurely resulted in a Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) change in 2013. Locally, Dr. Hussey-Gardner has been a member of the Baltimore City Interagency Coordinating Council since 1996 and was the Chairperson from 1997-2001.

Experience

  • 2012–present
    Associate professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
  • 2000–2012
    Adjunct faculty, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
  • 2003–2012
    Assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
  • 2000–2003
    Clinical assistant professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Education

  • 1995 
    University of Maryland, College Park, PhD Early Childhood Special Education
  • 1987 
    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, MPH Maternal and Child Health
  • 1987 
    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, MA Special Education
  • 1985 
    University of Maryland, College Park, BS Special Education

Publications

  • 2018
    Mother Goose in the NICU: Support for the neediest infants and their families, Children and Libraries
  • 2017
    Home Visits by Neonatology Fellows for Infants Discharged from the NICU, Birth
  • 2016
    Best Beginnings for Parents, VORT
  • 2016
    Baby Steps: A Post Discharge Home Visiting Program by Neonatology Fellows, Pediatrics Supplement
  • 2016
    Perceptions of Palliative Care in the NICU, Advances in Neonatal Care
  • 2015
    Pediatric perspectives: Caring for NICU graduates in the community, Contemporary Pediatrics
  • 2015
    Best Beginnings Parent Handouts, VORT
  • 2014
    Analysis of current trends and changes over time early intervention programs across the nation, Peds Review
  • 2013
    Maryland’s PRIDE: A state-of-the-art early intervention program for preterm and medically fragile infants, The Forum: National Association of Perinatal Social Workers
  • 2009
    Convalescent care of NICU infants in community hospitals: risk or benefit? , Journal of Pediatrics
  • 2009
    Developmental Interventions in the NICU—What are the Developmental Benefits?, NeoReviews
  • 2009
    Parents’ perception of the back-transport of very-low-birth-weight infants to community hospitals, Journal of Perinatology
  • 2009
    Infant neurodevelopment following fetal growth restriction: relationship with antepartum surveillance parameters, Ultrasound Obstet GynecoI
  • 2008
    Understanding My Signals: Help for Parents of Premature Infants, Edition 1-3, VORT
  • 2008
    Family Centered Care in the NICU, eNeonatal
  • 2004
    Self-efficacy & Parenting of High-Risk Infants: The Moderating Role of Parent Knowledge on Infant Development, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
  • 2002
    Early intervention best practice: Collaboration among an NICU, an early intervention program, & an NICU follow-up program, Neonatal Network
  • 1998
    Parent perceptions of a NICU Follow-Up Clinic, Neonatal Network
  • 1991
    Taking Care of Me: Help for Parents of New Babies, Edition 1-2, VORT
  • 1989
    Object play & exploration of handicapped & nonhandicapped infants, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
  • 1988
    Signals of premature infants, Intensive Caring Unlimited

Grants and Contracts

  • 2018
    Maryland's Premature Infant Developmental Enrichment 1999-2018
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Baltimore City Health Department
  • 2017
    Mother Goose on the Loose: Goslings
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    PNC Grow Up Great
  • 2016
    eB2K: Education Birth to Kindergarten
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Wright Family Foundation
  • 2015
    Best Beginnings Developmental Screen 2013-2015
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Maryland State Department of Education
  • 2009
    Best Beginnings Training
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    Baltimore City Health Department
  • 2005
    Validation of the Best Beginnings Developmental Screen--Maryland Pilot
    Role:
    PI
    Funding Source:
    University of Maryland School of Medicine

Contact Brenda for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision
  • Article Feed
  • ORCID
  • Joined