Rajneesh

Mahajan

,

MD

Biographical Sketch:

Dr. Mahajan attended medical school at Maulana Azad Medical College (University of Delhi), graduating in 1992 and had some psychiatry residency training in India. He attended general psychiatry residency at Medical College of Virginia (Virginia Commonwealth University) in Richmond, Virginia, and later University of Maryland, in Baltimore, Maryland, graduating in 1999. He completed his child and adolescent psychiatry training at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Hospital combined training program in June 2001. Following this, Dr. Mahajan worked in a variety of clinical settings as a child/adolescent and adult psychiatrist, including outpatient community psychiatry, and inpatient acute care settings. Due to his interest in autism spectrum disorders, he joined Kennedy Krieger Institute in January 2007 as a faculty psychiatrist. At Kennedy Krieger, Dr. Mahajan has been providing clinical care primarily at the Center for Autism and Related Disorders since 2008. He has also worked in Kennedy Krieger's outpatient psychiatry clinic, as a consultant psychiatrist for the autism based educational program, LEAP and a school psychiatrist at Kennedy Krieger School Programs. He continues to provide psychiatric care to children and adolescents with ASD at CASSI.  Dr. Mahajan has been involved in teaching/supervision of Johns Hopkins child and adolescent psychiatry residents and other trainees and students at CASSI.

Research Summary:

Dr. Mahajan has been involved in clinical research in psychiatric comorbidities in ASD, with a particular interest in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in context of autism spectrum disorder. He was a participant in framing of clinical practice pathways for evaluation and treatment of psychiatric comorbidities in children and adolescents with ASD including ADHD, anxiety and irritability through the Autism Speaks-Autism Treatment Network. Dr. Mahajan is currently involved in developing a specialty clinic at CASSI for children and adolescents with ASD with severe problem behaviors/complex neurobehavioral presentations and require a multidisciplinary treatment approach.

Research Publications:

Mahajan R, Bernal P, Panzer R, Whitaker A, Roberts W, Handen B, Hardan AY, Anagnostou E, Veenstra-VanderWeele J. Clinical practice pathways for evaluation and medication choice for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics. November 2012. Vasa R, Carroll L, Nozzolillo A, Mahajan R,  Mazurek M, Bennett A, Wink L, Bernal P. A systematic review of treatments for anxiety in youth with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. December 2014.

Mahajan R, Dirlikov B*, Crocetti D, Mostofsky S.H. Motor circuit anatomy in children with autism spectrum disorder with or without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Autism Research. May 2015.

Mahajan R, Mostofsky SH. Neuroimaging endophenotypes in autism spectrum disorder. CNS Spectrums. August 2015.

Fung LK, Mahajan R, Nozzolillo A, Bernal MP, Krasner A, Jo B, Coury D, Whitaker A, Veenstra-VanderWeele, Hardan AY. Pharmacologic treatment of severe irritability and problem behaviors in autism: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pediatrics. February 2016.

McGuire K, Fung LK, Hagopian L, Vasa RA,  Mahajan R, Bernal MP, Silberman AE, Wolfe A, Coury D, Veenstra-VanderWeele J, Hardan AY, Whitaker AH. Irritability and problem behavior in autism spectrum disorder: A practice pathway for pediatric primary care. Pediatrics. February 2016 

Vasa RA, Mazurek MO, Mahajan R, Bennett AE,  Bernal MP, Nozzolillo A,  Arnold LE, Coury D. Assessment and treatment of anxiety in youth with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics. February 2016.

Peterson D, Mahajan R, Crocetti D, Mostofsky S.H. Left hemispheric microstructural abnormalities in children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research. September 2014.

Nichols HM, Dababnah S, Troen B, Vezzoli J, Mahajan R, Mazefsky CA. Racial Disparities in a Sample of Inpatient Youth with ASD. Autism Research. January 2020.