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Melissa A. O’Connell Liggett, Ph.D. Developmental Psychologist
Melissa A. O’Connell Liggett, Ph.D., is a licensed developmental psychologist in Washington, D.C., and California. Dr. O’Connell Liggett obtained a doctoral degree in applied developmental psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where her studies and research interests included child assessment, social-emotional development and family functioning in families of preterm infants. She completed pre- and postdoctoral training in the Child Development Program at Children’s National Hospital where she further honed her skills in the areas of infant assessment and early identification of autism spectrum disorders.
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Dr. O’Connell Liggett left Children’s National in 2009 to broaden her skills in early childhood assessment, joining the Developmental Evaluation Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, California. There she provided comprehensive developmental evaluations for children from birth to 6 years of age, with a primary focus on high-risk infant assessment due to prematurity or prenatal substance exposure, children in foster care, autism spectrum disorder, and early attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. She also worked as part of a multi-disciplinary outpatient feeding clinic for preschool-aged children.
In 2016, Dr. O’Connell Liggett returned to her hometown and Children’s National. She rejoined the Child Development Program where she is now responsible for the NICU Fellows Follow-up Clinic, providing training on newborn assessment to the hospital’s neonatology fellows and follow-up developmental evaluations for graduates of the neonatal intensive care unit.
Address: 111 Michigan Ave. NW; Washington, D.C., 20010
Email: [email protected]
Department: MRI Lab
Recent publications & presentations
2023 | April
Andescavage N, Bullen T, Liggett M, Barnett SD, Kapse A, Kapse K, Ahmadzia H, Vezina G, Quistorff J, Lopez C, du Plessis A, Limperopoulos C. “Impaired in vivo feto-placental development is associated with neonatal neurobehavioral outcomes.” Pediatric Research. 2023 Apr;93(5):1276-1284. doi: 10.1038/s41390-022-02340-0. Epub 2022 Nov 5. PMID: 36335267; PMCID: PMC10147575
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36335267/