Ellen O’Donnell, PhD, is a Psychologist at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) and an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  She specializes in working with children and adolescents with medical illness and has been affiliated with the Diabetes Center at MGHfC since 2007.  Dr. O’Donnell provides consultation and support to patients and families from the Diabetes Center.  She also specializes in neuropsychological assessment and is interested in understanding how having a learning disability or ADHD impacts a child’s ability to manage a chronic illness like diabetes.  Dr. O’Donnell works with patients with a variety of pediatric illnesses, but is especially interested in the challenges of having type 1 diabetes (T1D) since she is living with the disease herself.

Dr. O’Donnell is kicking off our virtual education series with a presentation on “The Challenges of Parenting Children with T1D” on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 p.m. RSVP by Friday, April 3 at jdrf-ne.org/VirtualEducationApril7.

Dr. O’Donnell will share tips and tools for managing some of the most common challenges in parenting kids with T1D at each age and stage. She will focus on strategies for the everyday challenges that can also be adapted during times of stress and will talk specifically about how parents can support kids with T1D whose routines have been disrupted by coronavirus restrictions. There will be time for Q&A.