Manuel Jimenez

Manuel E. Jimenez, MD, MS, FAAP is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Family Medicine and Community Health, Director of Research at the Boggs Center on Disability and Human Development at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and an Attending Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician at Children’s Specialized Hospital. He also co-leads the Community Engagement Core of the New Jersey Alliance for Clinical and Translational Science. His work focuses on promoting optimal developmental outcomes for children and making the health system more responsive to their needs. Dr. Jimenez uses quantitative, qualitative, and community-based participatory research methods to ask policy-relevant research questions as well as propose and test sustainable solutions to real-world problems impacting children and their families. He collaborates with key partners including parents, community leaders, health professionals, and policymakers in all stages of this work.

Developmental and behavioral health, early relational health, early childhood development, language and literacy development, multilingualism, health equity, community engaged research, mixed methods, implementation science.

The Jimenez Research Team focuses on promoting optimal developmental, behavioral, and relational health outcomes and making the health system more responsive to the needs of families. Our research has largely focused on developing and testing health system interventions that promote optimal developmental and behavioral health. We use mixed methods, implementation science, and community engaged research approaches. Our work has been supported by major funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and other private foundations.

• Cordoba DJ, Levin ER, Ramachandran U, Lima D, Shearman N, Willis D, Srinivasavaradan D, JimenezME. Parents' Perspectives on Early Relational Health: A Qualitative Study. J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2024Jul-Aug 01;45(4):e334-e340. doi: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000001301. Epub 2024 Jul 17. PMID:39023850.
• Jimenez ME, Uthirasamy N, Hemler JR, Bator A, Malke K, Lima D, Strickland PO, Ramachandran U,Crabtree BF, Hudson SV, Mackie TI, Mendelsohn AL. Maximizing the impact of reach out and readliteracy promotion:anticipatory guidance and modeling. Pediatr Res. 2023 Dec 7. doi:10.1038/s41390-023-02945-z. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38062258.
• Jimenez ME, Crabtree BF, Hudson SV, Mendelsohn AL, Lima D, Shelton PA, Veras J, Lin Y, PelleranoM, Morrow L, Strom BL. Enhancing Reach Out and Read with a Video and Text Messages: ARandomized Trial in a Low-income Predominantly Latino Sample. Acad Pediatr. 2021 Feb 19;. doi:10.1016/j.acap.2021.02.011. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33618060.
• Jimenez ME, Hudson SV, Lima D, Crabtree BF. Engaging a Community Leader to EnhancePreparation for In-Depth Interviews With Community Members. Qual Health Res. 2018 Aug12:1049732318792848. doi: 10.1177/1049732318792848. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID:30101661.
• Jimenez ME, Wade R, Lin Y, Morrow LM, Reichman NE. Adverse experiences in early childhood andkindergarten outcomes. Pediatrics. 2016;137(2):e20151839