Maureen Durkin

Professor of population health sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Maureen Durkin is professor and chair of population health sciences and Waisman Center investigator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her undergraduate degree and Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her M.P.H. and Dr.P.H. degrees in epidemiology from Columbia University. Her research focuses on the epidemiology of neurodevelopmental disabilities and childhood injuries, both globally and within the United States. She has collaborated in the development of cross-cultural methods for epidemiologic studies of developmental disabilities and methods for surveillance of childhood injuries and disabilities. She has also directed international studies on the prevalence and causes of neurodevelopmental disabilities in low-income countries. Durkin is currently a principal investigator in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network and other projects related to public health surveillance, epidemiology and care integration of autism and other developmental disabilities.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Brain registers spatial location outside hippocampus

A more complex picture of how an animal’s brain tracks its location is starting to emerge.

By Natalia Mesa
5 November 2026 | 1 min watch
Illustration of worm on top of a purple rock with neurons in the background.

The three-banded panther worm is rewriting the story of brain evolution

The animal has a brain structure all its own, according to a 2026 preprint. The finding hints that brains could have evolved centralization before regionalization.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
4 November 2026 | 7 min read

Does cognition happen in brain areas or between them?

Michael Cole explains how "brain flows" are the fundamental units of brain function and cognition.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 November 2026 | 1 min read