Bio


Dr. Patel has been working with children with autism and other disabilities for 30 years. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Dr. Patel received a BS degree from the University of California at Davis in 1996 in Psychology with an emphasis in Biology. She continued her graduate training in Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Patel received her PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavior Analysis under the supervision of Dr. James Carr, Dr. Patrick Ghezzi, and Dr. Sidney Bijou in 2000.

She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2001 under the supervision of Dr. Cathleen Piazza and Dr. Wayne Fisher. Dr. Patel joined the faculty at the Marcus and Kennedy Krieger Institutes in 2001 and Emory University School of Medicine in 2002. Dr. Patel was a case manager in the Pediatric Feeding Disorders and Early Intervention Programs at the Marcus and Kennedy Krieger Institutes from 2001-2003. In 2003, she started Clinic 4 Kidz, which is a Home-Based Interdisciplinary Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of Clinic 4 Kidz. Dr. Patel is also an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Her research and clinical interests focus on treating feeding problems in children who have underlying medical issues or children diagnosed with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. In addition, she has expertise in working with children with autism and other developmental disabilities.

She is currently an associate editor for Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Patel is also on the editorial boards of Behavior Analysis in Practice and Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities. She is serving as a guest editor for the research topic “Unpacking the Correlation between Feeding Difficulties and Feeding Disorders in Children and Adolescents” for Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Patel also serves as a guest reviewer for several behavioral and pediatric journals. She has published research studies in peer-reviewed journals and has authored invited book chapters. Dr. Patel has also been invited to present at numerous conferences and at various hospitals all over the world.

Dr. Patel also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco and on she is on the Clinical Advisory Board for the MEAL PlanR project funded by the Georgia Research Alliance.