My research NIH, MCHB,and foundation funded research has yielded »100 peer-review manuscripts. My research spans RCTs of early childhood feeding and sleep as well as cohort studies, mixed-methods, environmental scan and scoping review methodologies. I have led R01 trials of breastfeeding promotion interventions and healthy sleep in Head Start.

In 2016, I joined the Rose F Kennedy University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) in 2016 as its Co-Director, shifting my focus to disability research and advocacy. This includes: co-occurrence of sleep, language and related disorders and COVID-related programs and research with persons with DDs. I advocate for Long Covid to be treated as a mass disabling event in blog and medical news posts, and analyzed its US disability burden.

I am currently the PI for “Disability as a Diversity Variable: Reducing Researcher Roadblocks (D2/R3),” funded through the Einstein-Montefiore Institute for Clinical and Translational Research grant [NCATS: 1UM1TR004400 (PIs: Marla Keller MD & Mimi Kim ScD)]. This project is particularly timely, given the NIH’s designation of persons with disabilities as a health disparities population with health disparities in Fall 2023. D2/R3 is a mixed-methods, PWDD-engaged study of researcher-level perceived barriers and capacity to conduct disability-inclusive research. 

In addition to my scholarly work and advocacy, I teach in the LEND core curriculum and Einstein College of Medicine’s new multi-year Impact course.

Active / Recent Projects

Bonuck K (PI of ICTR Project E); 1UM1TR004400 (PIs: Keller & Kim) National Center for Advancing Translational Science (2023-2030).  Disablity as Diversity: Reducing Researcher Roadblocks

Bonuck (PI; J Siegel Co-PI); 90DDUC0095 2023-2028; DHHS Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities  (2003-2008)                                                                        University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)                                   

Bonuck (PI; J Siegel Co-PI)   DOH01-RTATC-2019    New York State Department of Health   Regional Support Centers for the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN)

Bonuck (PI; J Siegel Co-PI)   DDP01-T00021GG-1100200.  (2021-2023)                                    New York State Developmental Disabilities Planning Council                                          Engage & Educate: Equipping NY State’s Disability Community with Science-Based Information on Vaccines

Bonuck (PI)   R01HD082129   National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2015-2020)  Increasing Sleep Health Literacy in Head Start: A Social-Ecological Approach.

PAST 5 YEARS (see all: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_NZsuWsAAAAJ&hl=en)

Bonuck K, Gao Q, Congdon S, Kim R.  Long COVID Disability Burden in US Adults: YLDs and NIH Funding Relative to Other Conditions. Preprint in medRxiv.  Janaury 2024.   doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.09.24301057

Siegel J, McGrath K, Muniz E, Siasoco V, Chandan P, Noonan E, Bonuck K. Infusing Intellectual and Developmental Disability Training into Medical School Curriculum: A Pilot Intervention. MedEd Online.  2023; 28 (1)    

Mann M, Harary D, Louis S, Wang T, Bonuck K, Isasi CR, Charron MJ, Fuloria M. Association of parent-child interactions with parental psychological distress and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Frontiers in Pediatrics. 2023 Jun 23;11:115021   

Whitney K, Felt B, Collins-Anderson A, Bonuck K.  The Feasibility of Screening for Sleep Problems in Early Childhood Education Programs. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2023; Feb 7: 1-11.

Steele M, Steele H, Bonuck K, Meissner P, Murphy A. Self-Reported Data Are Not Sufficient in a RCT comparing preventive interventions to one another both aimed at Improving the mother-toddler relationship. Current Research in Psychology and Behavioral Science.   2023 9 May

Bonuck K, Iadarola S, Gao Q, Siegel JF. COVID-19 Vaccines for Children with Developmental Disabilities: Survey of New York State Parents' Willingness and Concerns [published online ahead of print, 2022 Sep 2]. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2022; 43 (9): 521-528

Bonuck K, Collins-Anderson A, Schechter CB, Felt BT, Chervin RD. Effects of a Sleep Health Education Program for Children and Parents on Child Sleep Duration and Difficulties: A Stepped-Wedge Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(7):e2223692. 

Sanders J, Sturley R, Pilar R, Asato M, Sillau S, Aravamuthan B, Cervenka M, Hammond M, Bonuck K, Siegel J, Siasoco V, Margolis B. Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Behavioral Health of People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities.  Psychiatric Services.  June 23, 2022

Bonuck K, McGrath K, Shafer V, Battino R, Valicenti-McDermott, Sussman. Scoping Review of Language Disorders Research: Bilingualism, School-Age, and Related Difficulties.  Academic Pediatrics.  December 8, 2021 (online)

Iadarola, S., Siegel, J. F., Gao, Q., McGrath, K, Bonuck K.  COVID-19 Vaccine Perceptions in New York State’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Community. Disability and Health Journal.  2021; Jul 31;101178. doi: 10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101178

Brezel E, Hallas-Muchow L, Shipchandler A, Hall-Lande J, Bonuck K. Parents Beliefs Regarding Shared Reading with Infants.  Developmental Disabilities Network Journal.  2021; Fall 2 (1): 55-60

Bonuck K, Battino R, Barresi I, McGrath K. Sleep Problem Screening of Young Children by Speech-Language Pathologists: A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.  Autism & Developmental Language Impairment. 2021; August (6):1-12

McGrath K, Bonuck K, Mann M. Exploratory spatial analysis of autism rates in New York school districts: role of sociodemographic and language differences. J Neurodev Disord. 2020 Dec 16;12(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s11689-020-09338-x. PMID: 33327937; PMCID: PMC7745507

Bonuck K, McGrath K, Gao Q. National Parent Survey 2017: Worries, hopes, and child well-being. J Community Psychol. 2020 Nov;48(8):2532-2551. doi: 10.1002/jcop.22434. Epub 2020 Aug 25. PMID: 32840885

Karasz A SM, DeSilva N, Khurshid A, Bonuck K, Ramachandran U. Contextual Influences on Child Feeding in Two South Asian Immigrant Groups. International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition. 2020;9(2).

Bonuck K, Hill L. Special Education Disparities Are Social Determinants of Health: A Role For Medical-Legal Partnerships.  Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. 2020; 14 (2) Summer

Bonuck K, Collins-Anderson A, Ashkinaze J, Karasz A, Schwartz A. Environmental Scan of Sleep Health in Early Childhood Programs. Behavioral Sleep Medicine; 2019; July 18: 1-13

Steele H, Murphy A, Bonuck K, Meissner P, Steele M. Randomized controlled trial report on the effectiveness of Group Attachment-Based Intervention (GABI Ó): Improvement in the parent-child relationship not seen in the control group. Development and Psychopathology. 2019; Feb: 203-217