Faculty profile

Melanie Penner

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Associate ProfessorDepartment of PaediatricsUniversity of Toronto

Melanie Penner

Associate Professor

Department of Paediatrics

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

ORCID

Supervision signals

Professors usually supervise graduate students in their department's programs.
49 publications in the last five years, latest in 2026.
Senior (last) author on 14 recent papers, a sign of leading a research group.
Principal investigator on 7 research grants (6 CIHR, 1 SSHRC), most recently in 2025.

These signals come from public records, including CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions. Ask the professor or the graduate program whether they are taking new students.

Academic metrics

Publications

137

Citations

h-index

Collaborators

Grants

Publications by year

Counts cover the works listed on the university profile; citation counts come from Dimensions.

Profiles and links

University Profile Search on Google Scholar iDORCID

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Signals and details

Research

Read how they describe their research on their University of Toronto profile.

Diagnosis Autism Spectrum Disorder Autism Implementation Science Integrated Care Paediatrics Health Services

Latest papers

Parent perspectives on services available to autistic children in Canada: A mixed methods survey study.
PloS one · 2026 · senior author
Personalized Lifespan Approach to Autism Assessment: A Clinical and System Framework for Developmentally Informed Assessment Across the Life-Course.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026 · first author
Reported health-condition history profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth care: an exploratory latent class analysis.
Molecular autism · 2026

All 64 publications

Latest funding

Recalibrating Autism Measures for Sex and Gender Equity
CIHR · 2025 · Co-investigator
$698,444
CANLINK: Partnering to Establish a National Pediatric Learning Health System Network to Advance Youth and Family Patient-Centered Measurement
CIHR · 2025 · Co-investigator
$149,971
Rigorous Evaluation of the Persistence of Autism status in Toddlers and young children: the REPeAT study
CIHR · 2025 · Nominated PI
$1,250,775

All 21 grants and awards

64 publications.

Parent perspectives on services available to autistic children in Canada: A mixed methods survey study.

Caven I, Hamdani Y, Lunsky Y, Weaver C, Penner M

PloS one2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0353678 PMID: 42623361

Personalized Lifespan Approach to Autism Assessment: A Clinical and System Framework for Developmentally Informed Assessment Across the Life-Course.

Penner M, McNally Keehn R

Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2026First author

DOI: 10.1002/aur.70294 PMID: 42322045

Reported health-condition history profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth care: an exploratory latent class analysis.

Whaling K, Grillo VD, Shinall J, Penner M, Loftin R

Molecular autism2026

DOI: 10.1186/s13229-026-00732-1 PMID: 42482145

Transdiagnostic behavioral and sociodemographic influences on the cognitive-adaptive functioning gap in neurodivergent children.

Wan E, Penner M, Crosbie J, Brian J, Kelley E, Schachar R, Woodbury-Smith M, Jones J, Nicolson R, Stevenson RA, Frei J, Trinari E, Arnold PD, Ayub M, Lerch JP, Anagnostou E, Kushki A

Scientific reports2026

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-58625-5 PMID: 42431939

"Autism Diagnosis as a Guide": Taiwanese Adolescents' Own Experiences of Receiving Autism Diagnoses.

Liu CH, Lin WC, Man LLY, Wu CJ, Tafarodi RW, Fang L, Penner M, Ni HC, Lai MC

Autism : the international journal of research and practice2026

DOI: 10.1177/13623613261444800 PMID: 42153593

Advances in supporting development in autistic children and youth.

Penner M, Zwaigenbaum L, Piroddi N, Park S, Minhas RS, Singal D

BMJ (Clinical research ed.)2026First author

DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2025-086562 PMID: 42270130

Geographic variation and neighbourhood correlates of mental health-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits in children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study.

Antoniou T, Gozdyra P, Fridman D, Pajer K, Gomes T, Penner M, Tadrous M, Juurlink DN, Gardner W

Frontiers in child and adolescent psychiatry2026

DOI: 10.3389/frcha.2026.1575531 PMID: 42232876

Community Implementation of a Clinician and Caregiver Co-Led Programme to Promote the Wellbeing of Family Caregivers of Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Selick A, Mishra S, Man LLY, Steel L, Lunsky Y, Magnacca C, Penner M, Weiss J, Bobbette N, Thomson K, Fung K, Lake J

Journal of applied research in intellectual disabilities : JARID2026

DOI: 10.1111/jar.70233 PMID: 42050766

Community Provider Perspectives on an Autism Learning Health Network: A Qualitative Study.

Kearney J, Bosyj C, Rombos V, Curran AB, Clark B, Cornell W, Mah S, Mahurin M, Piroddi N, Sohl K, Zwaigenbaum L, Penner M

Journal of autism and developmental disorders2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1007/s10803-024-06597-8 PMID: 39441475

Evaluating the Preliminary Outcomes and Acceptability of a Virtual Adaptation of Acceptance and Commitment Training for Caregivers of People With Disabilities ("I Am Not Alone"): Mixed Methods Study.

Man LLY, Dahary H, Mishra S, Magnacca C, Steel L, Lunsky Y, Porthukaran A, Siu J, Bobbette N, Redquest B, Thomson K, Penner M, Weiss J, Lake J, Fung KPL

JMIR formative research2026

DOI: 10.2196/86205 PMID: 41881039

Profile data last refreshed on September 25, 2026 from the university directory, publication records and CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding.

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Melanie Penner

Research

Latest papers

Latest funding

Parent perspectives on services available to autistic children in Canada: A mixed methods survey study.

Personalized Lifespan Approach to Autism Assessment: A Clinical and System Framework for Developmentally Informed Assessment Across the Life-Course.

Reported health-condition history profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth care: an exploratory latent class analysis.

Transdiagnostic behavioral and sociodemographic influences on the cognitive-adaptive functioning gap in neurodivergent children.

"Autism Diagnosis as a Guide": Taiwanese Adolescents' Own Experiences of Receiving Autism Diagnoses.

Advances in supporting development in autistic children and youth.

Geographic variation and neighbourhood correlates of mental health-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits in children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study.

Community Implementation of a Clinician and Caregiver Co-Led Programme to Promote the Wellbeing of Family Caregivers of Individuals With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Community Provider Perspectives on an Autism Learning Health Network: A Qualitative Study.

Evaluating the Preliminary Outcomes and Acceptability of a Virtual Adaptation of Acceptance and Commitment Training for Caregivers of People With Disabilities ("I Am Not Alone"): Mixed Methods Study.

Advancing Schoolyard Inclusion for Autistic Children and Youth

Frequent collaborators

Yona Lunsky

Yona Lunsky

Evdokia Anagnostou

Kathleen Pajer

Tara Gomes

Mina Tadrous

Tony Antoniou

William Gardner

Muhammad Mamdani

Azadeh Kushki

Jessica Brian

Gina Dimitropoulos

Alene Toulany

William Gardner

Jennifer Crosbie

Elizabeth Kelley

Lonnie Zwaigenbaum

Christie Welch

Russell Schachar

Jonathan Weiss

Johanna Lake

Kendra Thomson

Annie Dupuis

Jonathan Weiss

Karen Tu

Kelly Arbour-Nicitopoulos

Isabelle Caven

Kenneth Fung

Darcy Fehlings

Gillian King

Emily Seto

Stelios Georgiades

Jordan Edwards

Michelle Nelson

Mark Bayley

Michelle Nelson

Monika Kastner

David Nicholas

Peter Szatmari

Lawrence Mbuagbaw