Jeffrey Hine, PhD, associate professor of Pediatrics, has been named director of Primary Care Outreach and Training for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (VKC), the VKC Treatment and Research Institute for Autism Spectrum Disorders (TRIAD), and the Division of Developmental Medicine (DDM).

In this role, Hine will continue to lead expansion of outreach and training initiatives focused on building improved models of care for identification and support of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families. This will include a specific program to ensure timely access to diagnostic and care coordination services through a network of well-trained and well-supported primary care and community clinicians.

Hine envisions this new role as an opportunity to expand embedded and telemedicine-based specialty consultation to the growing VUMC-affiliated primary care clinics.

“I am excited to expand our team’s work. Timely access to diagnostic information and care coordination is a widespread challenge across our service systems nationally,” Hine said. “Formalizing a network where families and their providers can quickly access this support will hopefully ease this already stressful process. Whether it be through embedded, capacity-building training opportunities for primary care providers or facilitating ASD specialist telemedicine consultation directly to families, I think we can make a big impact for our state and be able to share this model with other states facing similar challenges.”

Zachary Warren, PhD, professor of Pediatrics and Division Chief of DDM, noted that Hine has been part of a vanguard of VUMC faculty members providing national and international trainings prior to and during the COVID pandemic in novel methods for identification and support of the growing number of children with ASD concerns.

“The innovative clinical and educational models that Jeff has created and supported in his time at Vanderbilt are truly impressive,” Warren said. “He has radically altered how we teach and think about what it means to provide exceptional care to children and families with developmental concerns. His work has had a tremendous impact not only in our own primary care clinics, but far beyond our Medical Center walls,” he said.

“This speaker series has been a nice way for our team to be at the center of the discussion for how we can best serve children and families across disciplines,” Hine said. “It has also been a nice opportunity to see how outside institutions and other states recognize and respect our work here at VUMC, especially when it comes to designing and implementing collaborative and innovative models of care.”

Kathryn Carlson, MD, assistant chief medical officer of Children’s Services at Vanderbilt Integrated Providers, has been an important collaborator in ensuring the success of these programs across VUMC primary care clinics.

“We are so grateful for this program that Dr. Hine has created and excited about the opportunities for growth,” Carlson said. “Whenever a concern for developmental differences is raised, families are anxious for an evaluation so that they can start helping their child as soon as possible. This program makes that evaluation accessible, both in time and location. It also supports and teaches clinicians to identify concerns earlier and to support families with follow-up care, truly expanding capacity to care for children with autism in their medical home.”