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Elizabeth Hassrick PhD

Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick headshot

Associate Professor
Community Health and Prevention, A.J. Drexel Autism Institute
emh347@drexel.edu
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Degrees

PhD, Sociology, University of Chicago
MA, Sociology, University of Chicago
MA, Education, University of New Mexico
BA, English, University of California, Berkeley

Bio

Elizabeth McGhee Hassrick, PhD, is an associate professor in the Drexel Dornsife's Department of Community Health at Prevention and the Life Course Outcomes Research Program area at the A. J. Drexel Autism Institute.

Dr. McGhee Hassrick’s work focuses on investigating how, why and under what conditions social networks impact outcomes for people, collectives and organizations. She contributes to problem-solving sociology by aligning her work with real-world problems, conducted in partnership with communities. Currently, her work includes basic social science research on how and under what conditions social networks influence the outcomes of autistic people during key life transitions. She engages researchers and community partners across disciplines and expertise in intervention science, co-creating and rigorously testing network interventions that support autistic people in school and community settings. Additionally, she has led business translation grant work, using quasi-experimental and lean startup methods to apply network science solutions to support autistic young adults as they transition to adulthood. This includes the development and rigorous testing of the Trestle app which helps autistic young adults build meaningful social networks to support their life goals. Her work also assists existing community and research collaboratives in collecting and using social network data to build better strategic networks, addressing issues such as service capacity for Latino immigrants and mental health crisis service coordination. Dr. McGhee Hassrick is the Director of the Social Dynamics of Intervention (SoDI) Lab, collaborating with students (i.e. high school, undergraduate, graduate, post doctoral), full time research staff and early career scholars to investigate how social network impact our everyday lives and outcomes.

Dr. McGhee Hassrick received her masters and doctoral degrees in Sociology from the University of Chicago and a masters in Education from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Before her career as an academic researcher, she was a classroom teacher for years in public and private schools in the United States and abroad. She has held faculty research positions at the University of Chicago and Weill Cornell Medical College. Her research has been published in peer review journals and funded by grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health, SAMSA, the Health Resource and Services Administration, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Spencer Foundation and the National Academy of Education.​

Research Interests

  • Autism
  • Neurodevelopment and Neurologic Disorders
  • Health Services Research
  • Health Equity / Health Disparities
  • Community-Engaged Research
  • Health Communication, eHealth or mHealth

Publications

Select Publications:

Dufek S, Stahmer AC, Vivanti G, Hassrick EM. Exploring social network factors impacting the implementation of communication supports designed for minimally verbal autistic preschool children: a study protocol. BMC Pediatr. 2025 Dec 26;26(1):93. doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-06439-1. PMID: 41454265; PMCID: PMC12882290.

Nuske HJ, Smith T, Levato L, Bronstein B, Sparapani N, Garcia C, Castellon F, Lee HS, Vejnoska SF, Hochheimer S, Fitzgerald AR, Chiappe JC, Nunnally AD, Li J, Shih W, Brown A, Cullen M, Hund LM, Stahmer AC, Iadarola S, Mandell DS, Hassrick EM, Kataoka S, Kasari C. Building Better Bridges: Outcomes of a Community-Partnered New School Transition Intervention for Students on the Autism Spectrum. J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Sep;55(9):3100-3117. doi: 10.1007/s10803-024-06285-7. Epub 2024 Jun 12. PMID: 38865033; PMCID: PMC11972019.

Martinez-Donate A, Rangel MG, Lieberman JT, Gonzalez-Fagoaga JE, Amuedo-Dorantes C, Hassrick EM, Valdez C, Wagner K, Turcios Y, Gonzalez AA, Zhang X. Between the lines: A mixed-methods study on the impacts of parental deportation on the health and well-being of U.S. citizen children. J Migr Health. 2024 May 11;9:100233. doi: 10.1016/j.jmh.2024.100233. PMID: 38813455; PMCID: PMC11133918.

Martinez-Donate AP, Zumaeta-Castillo C, Yamasaki Y, Perez C, Martinez O, Hassrick EM, Ventimiglia J, Lazo-Elizondo M. Feasibility and acceptability of CRiSOL: A pilot peer-based intervention to address syndemic health issues afflicting Latino immigrants in the U.S. PLoS One. 2023 Oct 24;18(10):e0287248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287248. PMID: 37874795; PMCID: PMC10597517.

Martinez-Donate AP, Dsouza N, Cuellar S, Connor G, Zumaeta-Castillo C, Lazo-Elizondo M, Yamasaki Y, Perez C, Carroll-Scott A, Martinez O, Hassrick EM. Provider perceptions of availability, accessibility, and adequacy of health and behavioral services for Latino immigrants in Philadelphia: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health. 2022 Aug 30;22(1):1645. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14066-z. PMID: 36042441; PMCID: PMC9427076.

Locke J, Hassrick EM, Stahmer AC, Iadarola S, Boyd B, Mandell DS, Shih W, Hund L, Kasari C; AIR-B Network. Using Novel Implementation Tools for Evidence-based Intervention Delivery (UNITED) across public service systems for three evidence-based autism interventions in under-resourced communities: study protocol. BMC Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 16;22(1):478. doi: 10.1186/s12888-022-04105-9. PMID: 35842614; PMCID: PMC9287703.

Hassrick EM, Suhrheinrich J, Schetter P, Nahmias A, Melgarejo M, Li J, Ventimiglia J, Yu Y, Stahmer A. Producing Child-Centered Interventions: Social Network Factors Related to the Quality of Professional Development for Teachers of Autistic Students. Soc Sci. 2021 Dec;10(12):10.3390/socsci10120453. doi: 10.3390/socsci10120453. Epub 2021 Nov 25. PMID: 41048888; PMCID: PMC12493068.

Hassrick EM, Shih W, Nuske HJ, Vejnoska SF, Hochheimer S, Linares DE, Ventimiglia J, Carley K, Stahmer AC, Smith T, Mandell D, Kasari C. Disrupted Care Continuity: Testing Associations between Social Networks and Transition Success for Children with Autism. Soc Sci. 2021 Jul;10(7):247. doi: 10.3390/socsci10070247. Epub 2021 Jun 28. PMID: 34305199; PMCID: PMC8301264.

Hassrick EM, Holmes LG, Sosnowy C, Walton J, Carley K. Benefits and Risks: A Systematic Review of Information and Communication Technology Use by Autistic People. Autism Adulthood. 2021 Mar 1;3(1):72-84. doi: 10.1089/aut.2020.0048. Epub 2021 Mar 18. PMID: 36601264; PMCID: PMC8992882.

Iadarola S, Pellecchia M, Stahmer A, Lee HS, Hauptman L, Hassrick EM, Crabbe S, Vejnoska S, Morgan E, Nuske H, Luelmo P, Friedman C, Kasari C, Gulsrud A, Mandell D, Smith T. Mind the gap: an intervention to support caregivers with a new autism spectrum disorder diagnosis is feasible and acceptable. Pilot Feasibility Stud. 2020 Sep 7;6:124. doi: 10.1186/s40814-020-00662-6. PMID: 32944273; PMCID: PMC7487627.

See Dr. Hassrick's complete list of publications on PubMed