Dr. Gwynette speaks with Dr. Jessica Hellings, recipient of the 2024 APA George Tarjan Award for Contributions in Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Hellings is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She earned her medical degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Board-certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry, Dr. Hellings has developed specialty services for individuals with developmental disabilities at institutions like the University of Kansas Medical Center and The Ohio State Nisonger Center.

With over 40 years of clinical and research experience, her work has focused on severe challenging behaviors in children, adolescents, and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (IDD), addressing issues such as aggression, self-injury, and property destruction. Dr. Hellings has co-authored a book on the gut-brain axis, celiac disease, and non-celiac gluten sensitivity in neuropsychiatric illness. She also works to improve psychiatry training programs on ASD/IDD and serves on the Missouri board of ECHO Developmental Disabilities.