Ericka Anderson Wodka

Biography

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Dr. Wodka graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2001 with a B.S. in Neurobiology and Physiology. She then continued her education at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, PA earning a M.S. in 2003 and Ph.D. in 2006, both in Clinical Psychology with a concentration in clinical neuropsychology. Dr. Wodka completed her clinical internship at the Mailman Center for Child Development and University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, FL and then completed her postdoctoral residency in Pediatric Neuropsychology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She joined Kennedy Krieger as a pediatric neuropsychologist and licensed psychologist in 2008. Dr. Wodka is active in the mentoring programs at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, and participates in the neuropsychological training of externs, pre-doctoral interns, and post-doctoral residents; she is the supervising neuropsychologist at CARD. RESEARCH SUMMARY: Dr. Wodka’s broad research interest includes examining cognitive and behavioral aspects of neurodevelopmental disorders, specifically related to brain behavior relationships involving attention and language. Her focus primarily includes children with autism and ADHD. Previous projects have examined language outcomes for severely language-delayed children with autism. Dr. Wodka is currently collaborating with researchers at Kennedy Krieger on projects examining cognitive and neuroanatomical aspects of motor and sensory difficulties observed in children with autism, and their relation to attention and habituation. She is also involved in projects examining the cognitive and behavioral overlap between autism, attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety disorder. Dr. Wodka is the KKI Principal Investigator for SPARK, a national multisite study aimed at engaging over 50,000 families of individuals with autism in research (www.SPARKforAutism.org/KKI).

Research Interest

Psychology