Emerging Research on Autism Rates and Covid

Free webinar at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (US), April 22, 2026

Tune in to hear about the Columbia University COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative (COMBO), which resulted in the first report demonstrating that birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not prenatal exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection, was associated with infant neurodevelopment.

About the speaker:

Dr. Morgan Firestein is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Child Health Institute of NJ, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She obtained her B.A. in psychology from Columbia University in 2013. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University in 2019 in the lab of Dr. Frances Champagne, where she examined the role of the placenta in regulating fetal exposure to maternal sex steroid hormones and neurodevelopmental consequences of fetal exposure to aberrant levels of maternal hormones. Dr. Firestein completed her postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, during which time she investigated the relationship between extracellular vesicles of maternal, fetal, and placental origin and child neurobehavioral outcomes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Firestein was also a key contributor to the Columbia University COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative (COMBO), which resulted in the first report demonstrating that birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, but not prenatal exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection, was associated with infant neurodevelopment. Dr. Firestein previously served as the Founding Director of the Columbia University Medical Center PeriNatal BioBank (PNBB). Dr. Firestein joined the faculty of the Child Health Institute of NJ in September 2025..