Research

According to the clinic database, the following figure shows the counties the Emory Neurodevelopment and Exposure Clinic (ENEC) has serviced from 2012-2023.

The purpose of this project is the creation and maintenance of a descriptive database collected from patients applying for diagnostic and clinical services.  With the permission of the families participating in this study, we collect de-identified (anonymous) data about demographic background, medical characteristics and exposure to alcohol and drugs.  We use the results of our research to guide treatment planning and to develop more effective treatment and prevention strategies in Georgia.  The database was begun in 1995 and continues to this day and we have collected information on more than 2000 children and their families.  This has allowed us to examine ways in which different methods for diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) identify children (Coles, et al., 2016), to look at the relationship between child behavior and maternal incarceration (Mangurenje, 2017), evaluate the relationship between FASD diagnosis and asthma (Foley, 2017), and identify an increased rate of hypertension in school aged children in our clinical sample (Cook, 2014).  We anticipate that this clinical database will continue to be a resource for Georgia in the future.

• Principal Investigator: Claire D. Coles, PhD
• Co-Investigator: Mary Ellen Lynch, PhD
• Clinic Coordinator: Sharonda Malcome
• Data Manager: Mikayla Charles

• Coles CD, Gail, A, Mulle J, Kable JA, Lynch ME, & Jones, KL (2016) A comparison among five methods for the clinical diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 40(8):1000-1009.
• Cook J. Association analysis of fetal alcohol syndrome and hypertension status in children, adolescents, and young adults. 2014. Master’s Thesis, Georiga State University.
• Foley K (2017) Association between Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and Asthma in Children.  Paper presented to the Rollins School of Public Health in partial fulfillment of a Master’s in Public Health.
• Mangurenje T (2017) Mothers in Prison: The effects of mass incarceration on children’s behavioral outcomes.  Paper presented at the 12 Annual Break the Cycle Conference, Atlanta, GA, April, 2017.
• Paysour J, Lynch ME, Coles CD, Lisl E, Varma A, & Bellcross C (2017) Caregivers and clinical follow-up in a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder diagnostic Clinic.  Paper presented to the Department of Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Genetics Counseling Program, in partial fulfillment of a Master’s in Genetic Counseling.  Poster presented at the International Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Biennial Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, March, 2017.