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Diana Schendel, PhD

Diana Schendel headshot

Professor of Epidemiology
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute
des348@drexel.edu
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Degrees

PhD, Physical Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University
MA, Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University
BS, Biology/BS, Anthropology, The Florida State University

Bio

Diana Schendel, PhD, is professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute. Dr. Schendel leads the Research Program in Modifiable Factors in Autism. She has investigated key public health issues in autism including population-level prevalence trends over time and in different countries, and factors underlying the trends such as changes in age of diagnosis, diagnostic criteria and reporting practices. To better understand the mechanisms contributing to autism and identify opportunities to reduce disability, she has used large, population-based data sources in the US and abroad to investigate patterns of autism risk across a wide array of pre- and perinatal factors (e.g., multi-generational family morbidity and parental age risk, birth weight and gestational age patterns, maternal prenatal smoking, medication use, infection and infertility treatment and sociodemographic factors), as well as postnatal factors such as childhood hospitalization for infection and co-occurring conditions and their effects on mortality risk. More recently she has begun to investigate whether genes linked to autism modify the effects of non-genetic risk factors, such as air pollutant exposure or maternal cardiometabolic health during pregnancy, and the interplay between genes and family history in autism risk.

In order to better understand the complex risk patters in autism which need large studies, she has promoted both multi-site and multinational collaborations and played lead roles in some of the largest epidemiological autism studies to date including CDC’s Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Epidemiology (CADDRE) and CADDRE’s Study to Explore Early Development (SEED); the International Collaboration for Autism Registry Epidemiology (iCARE) and the multi-national MINERvA Network (Multigenerational Familial and Environmental Risk for Autism). For the Autism Spectrum Disorders in the European Union (ASDEU) project (20 collaborator groups in 14 countries) she led a multi-national registry-based prevalence investigation and a multi-national survey of services for autistic adults with the aim of targeting opportunities for services improvement.

Dr. Schendel received her PhD in in biological anthropology with cross-over to epidemiologic methods. She first served as Senior Epidemiologist in the Woburn Environment and Birth Study (WEBS), then joined the CDC focusing on public health surveillance and research in developmental disabilities, primarily autism and cerebral palsy. At CDC she received the Charles C. Shepard Science Award (CDC’s highest science award) and, as part of the Autism Public Health Response Team, received the CDC and ATSDR Group Honor Award (Research Operational) and the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service. In 2013, she joined the faculty of Aarhus University in Denmark as professor in psychiatric epidemiology and senior researcher in the Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH).

Research Interests

  • Autism
  • Mental Health
  • Neurodevelopment and Neurologic Disorders
  • Maternal and Child Health

Publications

Select Publications:

Khachadourian  V, Arildskov E, Grove J, O'Reilly PF, Kodesh A, Levine SZ, Buxbaum JD, Reichenberg A, Croen LA, Schendel D, Sandin S, Hansen SN, Janecka M. Familial confounding in the associations between maternal health and autism. Nature Medicine 2025 DOI number: 10.1038/s41591-024-03479-5.

Schendel  D, Ejlskov L, Overgaard M, Jinwala Z, Kim V, Parner E, Kalkbrenner A, Ladd Acosta C, Fallin MD, Xie S, Mortensen PB, Lee BK. 3-generation family medical histories of mental, neurologic, cardiometabolic, birth defect, and autoimmune conditions associated with autism: an open-source catalogue of findings. Autism Research 2024 doi: 10.1002/aur.3232. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39283002.

Schendel  D, Roux AM, McGhee Hassrick E, Lyall K, Shea L, Vivanti G, Wieckowski AT, Newschaffer C, Robins DL. Applying a public health approach to autism research: A framework for action. Autism Res. 2022 Feb 23. doi: 10.1002/aur.2689. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35199493

Schendel  D, Laursen T, Albinana C, Vilhjalmsson B, Ladd-Acosta C, Fallin D, Benke K, Lee B, Grove J, Kalkbrenner A, Ejlskov L, Hougaard D, Bybjerg-Grauholm J, Bækvad.Hansen M, Børglum AD, Werge T, Nordentoft M, Mortensen PB, Agerbo E. Evaluating the interrelations between the autism polygenic score and psychiatric family history in risk for autism. Autism Res. 2021 Oct 19. doi: 10.1002/aur.2629. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34664785.

Ejlskov  L, Wulff JN, Kalkbrenner A, Ladd-Acosta C, Fallin D, Agerbo E, Mortensen PB, Lee BK, Schendel D. Prediction of autism risk from family medical history data using machine learning: a national cohort study from Denmark. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science Vol. 1, Issue 2, p156–164 Published online: May 5, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2021.04.007

Schendel D, Thorsteinsson. Autism cumulative incidence into adulthood for birth cohorts in Denmark, 1980-2012. JAMA 2018;320(17):1811-1813. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.11328

Schendel  DE, Overgaard M, Christensen J, Hjort L, Jørgensen M, Parner ET. Association of psychiatric and neurologic comorbidity with mortality among persons with autism spectrum disorder in a Danish population. JAMA Pediatr. 2016 Jan 11:1-8. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.3935. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:26752506

Hansen  SN, Schendel DE, Parner ET. Explaining the increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders: the proportion attributable to changes in reporting practices. JAMA Pediatr. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.1893 Published online November 3, 2014.

Schendel  DE, DiGuiseppi C, Croen LA, Fallin MD, Reed PL, Schieve LA, Wiggins LD, Daniels J, Grether J, Levy SE, Miller L, Newschaffer C, Pinto-Martin J, Robinson C, Windham GC, Alexander A, Aylsworth AS, Bernal P, Bonner JD, Blaskey L, Bradley C, Collins J, Ferretti CJ, Farzadegan H, Giarelli E, Harvey M, Hepburn S, Herr M, Kaparich K, Landa R, Lee L-C, Levenseller B, Meyerer S, Rahbar MH, Ratchford A, Reynolds A, Rosenberg S, Rusyniak J, Shapira SK, Smith K, Souders M, Thompson PA, Young L, Yeargin-Allsopp M. The Study to Explore Early Development (SEED): A Multisite Epidemiologic Study of Autism by the Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology (CADDRE) Network. JADD 2012; 42:2121–2140.

Schendel DE, Berg CJ, Yeargin-Allsopp M, Boyle CA, Decoufle P. Prenatal magnesium sulfate exposure and the risk for cerebral palsy or mental retardation in very low birthweight children aged 3 to 5 years. JAMA 1996;276:1805-1810.

View Dr. Schendel's full list of publications on PubMed