Our Faculty
Get to know a bit about our faculty
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Director, Division of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Beth Ellen Davis, MD, Division Director
I have the leadership, expertise, training, collaborative support, and motivation necessary to successfully achieve the outcomes proposed by the MCHB DBP Training Grant. My career of over 30 years interweaves my leadership roles as a medical educator at the medical student, resident, fellow, and faculty levels, and my passion as a Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician for improving the lives of children, youth, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and other Developmental Disabilities (ASD/DD) and their families. My current projects include innovative leadership in MCHB and other training and faculty development activities. As PI, I planned, proposed, and am implementing a highly successful MCH Collaborative Office Rounds (2017-22) uniquely partnering Washington and Virginia states’ primary care providers around behavioral health integration using monthly video-conferencing. I continue to be the DBP Faculty (distance and in-person training) for Alaska Without Walls Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disorders Program (LEND), which I helped establish in 2010. I am the medical lead on the Alaska PROJECT ECHO.
Faculty, Psychology Faculty, & Nurse Practitioners
Caitlin Anderson, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)
Clinical/Work Interests: Dr. Anderson is a Pediatric Psychologist and specializes in working with children and families facing chronic illness, developmental disability, challenging behaviors, anxiety, and depression. She is passionate about the integration of mental health services into pediatric primary care, universal mental health screening, and increasing access to high-quality mental health services.
Caitlin Anderson, Ph.D. is a pediatric psychologist who provides outpatient behavioral health services at UVA Children’s Hospital. Dr. Anderson completed her undergraduate studies at Wake Forest University and received her doctorate in combined clinical and counseling psychology at the University of South Alabama. She completed her internship and postdoctoral residency at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center with an emphasis on pediatric psychology and integrated primary care. She specializes in working with children and families facing chronic illness, challenging behaviors, anxiety, and depression. She is passionate about the integration of mental health services into pediatric primary care and increasing access to high-quality mental health services. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her daughter, cooking, trying out new restaurants, and spending time with family and friends.
Alisa Bahl, Ph.D., BCBA-D joined the clinical faculty in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in October 2013. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from -West Virginia University, completed an internship at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Human Development at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and completed her post-doctoral training at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Bahl’s specialties are in neurodevelopmental disorders and challenging behavior, as well as in behavioral pediatrics focusing on addressing noncompliance, sleep problems, tantrums, toileting, tics, and compliance with medical procedures.
Karri Bishop MSN, CPNP-PC, PHNL joined the division in October 2015 with a background in acute and rehabilitative pediatric care as a registered nurse at the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation Center inpatient unit and later in the intensive care setting at the University of Virginia’s Surgical Trauma ICU and Pediatric ICU. Karri completed her Master of Science in Nursing and Public Health Nurse Leader from UVA’s School of Nursing in 2015. She is board certified as a Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. Developmental pediatric-specific training includes certification for pediatric mental health specialists and Hammersmith Infant Neurological Examination. Karri provides care for children with an autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, developmental delays, trisomy 21, acquired brain injury, and neurodevelopmental assessment for high-risk infants, children, and adolescents with congenital heart disease.
Bio to come soon…
Katheryn Frazier, MD is a board-certified Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician who completed both her pediatric residency (2013) and developmental-behavioral fellowship training (2016) at the University of Virginia. She then stayed on as faculty and is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics. Dr. Frazier sees a variety of developmental patients, in both the inpatient and outpatient settings, including high-risk infants (NICU stay, prematurity, brain injury at birth), autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Neurofibromatosis, Tuberous Sclerosis, and acquired brain injury.
Clinical/Work Interests: I love the privilege of being a part of children’s lives and being permitted to guide families through difficult times.
Emily Gonzalez, Ph.D. joined the clinical faculty in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in July of 2015. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, completed an internship in Child Clinical and Pediatric Psychology at the Mailman Center for Child Development, and then completed two post-doctoral training years in forensic child assessment. Her clinical and research interests include pediatric/child clinical psychology, infant/child/adolescent psychological assessment, adherence and coping with acute/chronic medical illness, chronic pain, culture, and Latino mental health.
Clinical/Work Interests: Preschoolers with developmental differences including autism; improving access to care for non-English speaking populations and best use of interpreter services; medical education; pot-luck parties.
Jenniffer Herrera, MD is a board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatrician and joined the clinical faculty in 2018. Dr. Herrera completed medical school at the Universidad Latina de Panama’s Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud Dr. William C. Gorgas in her native country of Panama, residency in Pediatrics at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in New Jersey, and fellowship in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at the University of Rochester’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York, where she was also a fellow in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program. Dr. Herrera spends the vast majority of her time in the general DBP clinic and has a special interest in autism spectrum disorders and how they are similar to and differ from other developmental disabilities.
Clinical/Work Interests: Autism and Developmental Disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Feeding Disorders
Valentina Intagliata, MD, completed both her pediatric residency (2010) and fellowship training in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (2013) at the University of Virginia. After finishing her subspecialty training, she eagerly stayed at UVA to join the wonderful faculty and staff there. She is an associate professor and is board-certified in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics and maintains her General Pediatric certification as well. She enjoys the breadth of developmental-behavioral pediatrics but has expertise in caring for children with cerebral palsy, down syndrome, spina bifida, and feeding problems. She participates in the CP Research Network, and Down Syndrome Medical Interest Group, and is a board member for the Virginia Down Syndrome Association. Although her passion is working closely with families in the outpatient setting, she also very much enjoys teaching medical students, residents, and DBP fellows. Dr. Intagliata is the DBP Fellowship Program Director and is the education co-lead for all trainees rotating in DBPeds.
Clinical/Work Interest:
Children’s Neuromuscular Diseases, Myelomeningocele, and Complex Care.
A pediatrician with fellowship training in developmental and behavioral pediatrics, Anna Jesus, MD, focuses on providing care for children and adolescents with medically complex conditions that often occur along with behavioral and psychological difficulties. She also has expertise in palliative and end-of-life care for children. Dr. Jesus shares, “Pediatrics is such a unique field because you nearly always get to work with both the patient and the family. Whether a newborn or a young adult or anyone in between, I always try to approach and engage with the patient first, and throughout our meetings, include the family as much as possible.”
Clinical/Work Interest: Early identification and early intervention for infants at high risk or with cerebral palsy; complex care; brain injury
Lisa Letzkus, Ph.D., RN, CPNP-AC, joined the division of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in July 2008. She received her BSN from Shenandoah University, MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and she received her Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences in Nursing from the University of Virginia. She is a pediatric nurse scientist with over 10 years of clinical expertise as a pediatric nurse practitioner caring for children with neuro disabilities and medical complexity at the UVA Children’s Hospital. She is the associate director of the inpatient consult service. Additionally, she is the academic coordinator for the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Program at UVA School of Nursing. Her research interests include early identification and early treatment of infants at risk for neuromotor disability, symptomatology, and environmental factors.
Clinical/Work Areas: Autism Spectrum Disorder; Cerebral Palsy; ADHD’ Developmental Delay; NICU graduates
Dana Madden, MSN, PPCNP-BC, PMHS, CLC joined the division in July 2017 after caring for children with a severe autism spectrum disorder in a residential school near Boston, and before that, working in general pediatric primary care in Connecticut, with a background as a PICU registered nurse. Dana received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Connecticut in 2009, and her Master’s of Science in Nursing degree from Yale University in 2013. She is board certified as a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner and holds certifications as a pediatric mental health specialist and lactation counselor. Developmental pediatric-specific training includes competencies in the General Movements Assessment, the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Exam, and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Dana cares for children with an autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, ADHD, developmental delays, and follow-up of high-risk premature infants.
Stephanie McNerney, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC, PHNL joined the division of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics in 2013 after completing her advanced practice degree at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. She completed her bachelor’s in Nursing at James Madison University in 2005. Stephanie is a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner as well as a trained public health nursing leader. She functions primarily in the outpatient clinical setting seeing a variety of developmental conditions and medically complex patients. Stephanie has been the medical lead in the NICU follow-up clinic since 2016. She has clinical interests in the neurodevelopmental impacts of trauma and adversity in early childhood, refugee care, children and adolescents in foster care, and high-risk infant care.
Melanie Morse, Ph.D., is a psychologist who specializes in working with children with chronic illness and their families. She received her Ph.D. in clinical community psychology from the University of South Carolina. During her training, Dr. Morse worked in several medical subspecialty clinics supporting the behavioral and emotional health needs of children and youth. She completed a psychology internship at VCU Health and fellowship training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Clinical/Work Areas: Pediatric Neuromuscular Diseases (Duchene Muscular Dystrophy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy)
Rebecca Scharf, MD MPH, has always been fascinated by child development. She studied Developmental Psychology during her undergraduate years at Wheaton College in Illinois and then attended medical school at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn. During a pediatric residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, she pursued her interests in caring for children with disabilities around the world as a global health resident. She completed a fellowship in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Einstein College of Medicine/Rose F. Kennedy Center for Developmental Disabilities in the Bronx. She completed a Master’s of Public Health Degree in Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. Dr. Scharf came to UVA in 2011 to care for children with developmental concerns and to work in the Center for Global Health.
She is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology. Here in the UVA Children’s Hospital she sees patients in four clinics: 1) Myelomeningocele/Spina Bifida, 2) Neuromuscular/Muscular Dystrophy/Spinal Muscular Atrophy, 3) International Child Development/Refugee, and 4) Neurodevelopmental Outcomes of Congenital Cardiac Disease. Rebecca Scharf enjoys teaching medical students about childhood disability and global health. Her research focuses on improving child development and nutrition in locations around the world, including Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, and Brazil. She also collaborates with Biomedical Engineering to study ways to improve care for children with neuromuscular disorders. She is the associate program director for the neurodevelopmental pediatrics fellowship program.
Laura Shaffer, Ph.D. is the Chief of the Section of Pediatric Psychology. She received her doctorate in Clinical Child Psychology from the University of Denver, completed an internship in Child Clinical and Pediatric Psychology at Children’s National Medical Center, and then conducted a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in adolescent health promotion and Prevention research at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She specializes in working with children with chronic illness and their families and is passionate about integrated care and inter-professional education.
Clinical/Work Interests: LGBTQ+ behavioral health care; Comorbid anxiety and developmental and/or medical complexity
Haley Stephens is a pediatric psychologist who provides outpatient behavioral health treatment at UVA Children’s Hospital. She specializes in working with children and adolescents with chronic illness and developmental disabilities. Originally from Blacksburg, Virginia, Dr. Stephens received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and a doctorate in clinical psychology from Florida State University. She completed her internship/residency and a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric psychology at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Stephens joined the UVA Pediatric Psychology faculty in 2018. In her free time, Dr. Stephens enjoys hiking, live music, playing and watching sports, trying new recipes, and spending time with family and friends.
Clinical/work Interests: Dr. Stevenson enjoys the evaluation of young children, especially those with motor delays. His main interest is cerebral palsy and particularly the management of secondary health conditions like malnutrition, feeding problems, osteoporosis, sleep, and behavior problems.
Richard Stevenson, MD completed his pediatric residency at the University of Virginia and joined the UVA faculty in 1989 following fellowship training in Developmental Pediatrics at the University of Iowa. He is board-certified in neurodevelopmental disabilities and is an active clinician, teacher, and clinical investigator. He is a leader in several multi-center studies related to the care of children with cerebral palsy. Dr. Stevenson is the coordinator of the UVA Children’s Hospital Costa Rica exchange, was recently appointed Chair of the Institutional Review Board for Health Sciences Research at UVA, and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine as past president.
Alison Sturgill, MSN, CPNP-PC joined the Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics division in July 2016 after caring for acutely ill/ medically complex children inpatient within UVA Children’s Hospital for five years. Alison received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Villanova University in 2011, and her Master’s of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Virginia in 2016. She is board certified as a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner. Special interest includes autism spectrum disorder, neuromuscular /muscular dystrophy/ spinal muscular atrophy, cerebral palsy, myelomeningocele/spina bifida, as well as pediatric complex care. Developmental pediatric-specific training includes competencies in the Hammersmith Infant Neurological Exam and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. She serves as faculty at the University of Virginia School of Nursing and coordinates nurse practitioner education opportunities within Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
Clinical/Work Interest: Early Detection & Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders; Treatment of preschool ADHD; Early Detection of Developmental Disorder for High-Risk Children.
Elizabeth White, MD graduated from the University of Virginia before receiving her medical degree at the Medical University of South Carolina. She returned to UVA to complete a pediatrics residency after which she worked as a general pediatrician for 2 years at UVA Northridge Pediatrics. Dr. White returned for a fellowship at UVA in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, and in 2019 she re-joined the UVA Faculty in the division of Neurodevelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She enjoys seeing young children with neurodevelopmental delays and behavioral differences including autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, and high-risk infants and children. She is involved in the interdisciplinary autism spectrum disorder evaluation clinic at the Curry School of Education at UVA.