Maryland Pao, M.D.
Clinical Director
Office of the Clinical Director
Research Topics
Dr. Pao’s core research interests are in the complex interactions between medical and psychiatric symptoms in pediatric oncology, pediatric HIV and other primary immunodeficiencies. She studies distress and its correlates including suicidal thoughts and behaviors in medically ill children. She has published more than 150 research articles and chapters and co-edited the Quick Reference for Pediatric Oncology Clinicians: The Psychiatric and Psychological Dimensions of Pediatric Cancer Symptom Management, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.
Dr. Pao helped develop the ASQ (Ask Suicide-Screening Questions), a validated suicide risk screening tool for youth and adults in medical settings. This instrument has been translated into 23 languages. The ASQ toolkit is on the NIMH website http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ASQ for public use. Dr. Pao also developed Voicing My CHOiCES™, an advance care planning guide for adolescents and young adults. A leader in promoting the field of pediatric consultation liaison psychiatry (CLP) and integrated care for children into young adulthood, she is a recipient of the 2012 AACAP Simon Wile Award for excellence in CLP. She also received the 2022 AACAP Virginia Q. Anthony Outstanding Woman Leader Award. In 2023, Dr. Pao received a Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Commendation in recognition of exceptional leadership and dedicated service to the Department and to the Nation during the declared public health emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. She is a past President of the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry. She is a professor on the clinical faculty at Georgetown University, George Washington University and at the Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine.
Biography
Dr. Pao is Clinical Director and Deputy Scientific Director of the National Institutes of Mental Health Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health. She was Chief of the Psychiatry Consultation Liaison Service in the Hatfield Clinical Research Center 2008-2019 and still serves as an Attending. A native of Bethesda, she attended Wellesley College before completing a BA/MD program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed Pediatric and Psychiatric Residency training as well as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She is board certified in Pediatrics (1994, 2001), General Psychiatry (1994), Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (1994) and Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (2008, 2018).
Selected Publications
Horowitz LM, Bridge JA, Teach SJ, Ballard E, Klima J, Rosenstein DL, Wharff EA, Ginnis K, Cannon E, Joshi P, Pao M (2012). Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ): a brief instrument for the pediatric emergency department. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 166, 1170-6. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.1276. [Pubmed Link ]
Horowitz LM, Wharff EA, Mournet AM, Ross AM, McBee-Strayer S, He JP, Lanzillo EC, White E, Bergdoll E, Powell DS, Solages M, Merikangas KR, Pao M, Bridge JA (2020). Validation and feasibility of the ASQ among pediatric medical and surgical inpatients. Hosp Pediatr 10, 750-757. https://doi.org/10.1542/hpeds.2020-0087. [Pubmed Link ]
Brahmbhatt K, Kurtz BP, Afzal KI, Giles LL, Kowal ED, Johnson KP, Lanzillo E, Pao M, Plioplys S, Horowitz LM, PaCC Workgroup (2019). Suicide Risk Screening in Pediatric Hospitals: Clinical Pathways to Address a Global Health Crisis. Psychosomatics 60, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psym.2018.09.003. [Pubmed Link ]
Wiener L, Zadeh S, Battles H, Baird K, Ballard E, Osherow J, Pao M (2012). Allowing adolescents and young adults to plan their end-of-life care. Pediatrics 130, 897-905. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-0663. [Pubmed Link ]
Pao M, Mooneyham GC, Raza H (2023). Pediatric Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatry Training Pathways. J Acad Consult Liaison Psychiatry 65, 106-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaclp.2023.11.271. [Pubmed Link ]
Phone: +1 301 435 5770