Caroline Coffield, PhD

Caroline Coffield, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Co-Director of The Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development, and Director of the New Jersey Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (NJLEND) Program. Dr. Coffield directs the Seminar on Family Centered Care and Developmental Disabilities, a required component of the pediatric clerkship for all third-year medical students at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and coordinates the Advocacy Rotation for the Pediatric Residency Program at Robert Wood Johnson. Dr. Coffield obtained a doctorate in Psychology from Rutgers University in 2010, a Master’s degree from Rutgers University in 2005 and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame in 2003.

A. Undergraduate Education:
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
B.A. (Psychology) May 2003

B. Graduate Education:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
M.S. (Psychology) May 2005
Ph.D. (Psychology) May 2010

Dr. Coffield’s research interests include a variety of disability specific topics, such as health disparities in diagnosis and access to care for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their families, transition to adult healthcare, and the impact of education and training about developmental disabilities on healthcare providers.

Roche, C., Palatucci, J.S., Coffield, C.N., Uthirasamy, N., Cruz, N., Cheplic, M., & Findley, P.A. (2025).
Guiding Principles from Designing Disability-Inclusive Public Health Curricula. Journal of Public Health
Management and Practice. Published online ahead of print. DOI: 10.1097/PHH.0000000000002253
 

Schmidt, E.K., Lee, M.S., Chen, L.E., Riddle, I., Jones, J.L., Arias, A., Goode, T.D., & Coffield, C.N.
(2025). National Goals on Health Equity’s Recommendations for Disability Competent Healthcare.
Inclusion 13(3), 203-213. https://doi.org/10.1352/2326-6988-13.3.203

Weitlauf, A., Foster, T., Slaughter, J. C., Fleck, M., Harris, J., Coffield, C., Simcoe, K., Baggett, J.,
Stainbrook, A., & Warren, Z. E. (2024). Screening options in autism telediagnosis: Examination of TAP,
M-CHAT-R, and DCI concordance and predictive value in a telediagnostic model. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, ePub ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-024-06427-x

Palatucci, J.S., Chakravarty, S., Kratchman, A.L., Harris, J., Pizzi, L.T., Coffield, C.N., Ibitamuno, G.,
Spitalnik, D.M. Commentary: Determining Economic Factors That Matter to People With Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities and Their Caregivers: A Process Framework. Medical Care 61(12) p S104-
S108, December 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001913 PMID: 37963028

Coffield, C.N, Spitalnik, D.M., Harris, J.F, & Jimenez, M.E. Exploring the Experiences of Families of
Latino Children Newly Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Developmental and
Behavioral Pediatrics. 42(9):704-710, (2021).

Professional of the Year, My GOAL Autism, Inc.    2024
Leadership Award, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities   2023
Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar     2023
Fellow, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities     2020
Parent Professional Partnership Award
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network and the Community of Care Consortium     February 2016
Leadership Institute, University of Delaware     June 2013
Interdisciplinary Traineeship in Developmental Disabilities
The Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School     2006 – 2007
Travel Award, Rutgers University, Graduate School – New Brunswick     2006
Graduate Representative, Developmental Psychology, Rutgers University     2005-2008
Head TA for Psychology Department, Rutgers University     2004-2007
Certified in Facial Action Coding System (FACS)     2004  
Travel grant,
Undergraduate Intellectual Initiative of the College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame     2003