Sara Jane Webb, PhD

Faculty Appointment(s)

Professor

Leadership Role(s)

Faculty Liaison, Office for Teaching, Education and Research, Seattle Children’s Research Institute

Associate Director & Director of the Clinical Translational Core, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center

Steering Board, Molecular Medicine & Mechanisms of Disease, University of Washington

sjwebb@uw.edu

206-884-1160

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Personal Statement

My research focuses on understanding the development of neural circuits that contributing to and underlie social development. Our lab uses a number of different tools: primarily electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs), but also eye tracking, cardiophysiology (EKG), neuroimaging, and behavioral measures to study how infants, children, and adults perceive, attend and learn about their social environment. Our projects also focus on the development and validation of biomarkers that may be used to understand the course of development and treatment response in children with disruption in social and communication function such as autism spectrum disorder, 16p11.2 deletion syndrome, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Education

Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science, 2001
Clinical Electrophysiology, University of Washington, Center on Human Development & Disability, 2001-2004
PhD, Child Psychology, University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, 1996-2001
BA, Psychology, Yale University, 1992-1996

Department Affiliations

Centers/Programs

Other Affiliations

Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Center on Child Health, Behavior, & Development

Recent Publications

The Development of Lateralized Brain Oscillations in Infants: Lessons From Autism.
(2025 Nov)
Dev Psychobiol 67(6): e70101
Blanco-Gomez G, O'Reilly C, Webb SJ, Elsabbagh M, BASIS Team
Number of alpha peaks in the electroencephalogram is associated with clinical phenotype and copy number variation in youths with autism.
(2025 Oct 14)
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
Arutiunian V, Opdahl M, Sullivan CAW, Santhosh M, Neuhaus E, Borland H, Bernier RA, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M, Jack A, Jeste S, McPartland JC, Naples A, Van Horn JD, Pelphrey KA, Webb SJ, Gupta AR
Reduced social prioritization: An underlying mechanism driving slower latency to look at faces in autism.
(2025 Oct 16)
J Psychopathol Clin Sci
Griffin JW, Willis HC, Dommer K, Naples A, Dawson G, Jeste S, Faja S, Bernier R, Kleinhans N, Levin A, Hellemann G, Senturk D, Dziura J, Sugar C, Webb SJ, McPartland JC, Shic F
Face perception, attention, and memory as predictors of social change in autistic children.
(2025 Aug 30)
J Neurodev Disord 17(1): 54
Webb SJ, Kwan B, Bernier R, Charwarska K, Dawson G, Dziura J, Faja S, Hellmann G, Jeste S, Kleinhans N, Levin A, Naples A, Sabatos-DeVito M, Şentürk D, Shic F, Sugar C, McPartland JC, Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials
Sex-Related Measurement Bias in Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptoms in the Baby Siblings Research Consortium.
(2025 Aug 1)
JAMA Netw Open 8(8): e2525887
Burrows CA, Sung S, Zheng S, Young GS, Charman T, Klaiman C, Klin A, Marrus N, Ozonoff S, Piven J, Robins DL, Schmidt RJ, Schwichtenberg AJ, Webb SJ, Zwaigenbaum L, Carver LJ, Chawarska K, Curtin S, Jeste SS, Iverson JM, Landa RJ, Messinger DS, Roberts JE, Stone WL, Tager-Flusberg H, Esler AN, Miller M, Bishop SL, Elison JT
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