As a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Ashley Darcy-Mahoney will further her work educating pediatric clinicians on the drivers of inequality and its links to early brain and child development.
Dr. Darcy-Mahoney is one of five Macy Faculty Scholars nationally, the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation announced last week. Macy Faculty Scholars receive funding, up to $100,000 a year, to support their work on health care education reform projects.
During her time as a Macy Faculty Scholar, Dr. Darcy-Mahoney will educate future pediatric clinicians in understanding the drivers of inequity, including how poverty and related social determinants of health have a vital link to early brain and child development. Her proposal, the Pediatric Equity Scholars, will equip future nurses and doctors with the knowledge, skills, and courage to build more equitable health systems and organizations[BD3] .
Dr. Darcy-Mahoney’s work as a Macy Faculty Scholar will build on her current program of research, which has focused on neonatal and early childhood outcomes related to cognitive development, school performance, perinatal brain injury and autism spectrum disorders. Her aim is to explicate the relationships between biologic characteristics and the response to early environmental factors in the fetus and preterm infants. Through her research, Dr. Darcy-Mahoney seeks to improve early-childhood outcomes for these infants, most recently through language interventions.
Dr. Darcy-Mahoney is also the director of infant research at George Washington University’s Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute
GW Nursing’s Angela M. McNelis, Professor and Associate Dean for Scholarship, Innovation, and Clinical, serves as Dr. Darcy-Mahoney’s mentor.
The Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation is dedicated to improving the health of the public by advancing the education and training of health professionals.