Jill Locke, PhD

Jill Locke, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, a licensed child psychologist, and research affiliate at the Seattle Children’s Autism Center. To date, her research has focused on the: 1) presentation of social impairment for youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusive school settings; 2) identification of best practices for youth with ASD; and 3) understanding of successful implementation and sustainment of evidence-based practices (EBPs) for youth with ASD in public school settings. She was the principal investigator of two foundation grants that highlighted the importance of the organizational context in successful EBP implementation for youth with autism. She also was the principal investigator on an NIMH K01 Career Development Award (K01MH100199) that used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine individual- and organizational-level factors as predictors of EBP implementation in self-contained settings for children with ASD. She is currently the: 1) principal investigator of an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) grant (R324A200033) to examine evidence-based practice use to support youth with autism in inclusive settings; 2) MPI of an IES grant (R305A200023; PIs: Lyon, Locke, and Cook) to develop and test an organization-focused implementation intervention – Helping Educational Leaders Mobilize Evidence (HELM) – to support the use of Tier 1/universal social emotional and behavioral programs and practices; and 3) site PI of a Health Resources Services Administration Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavioral Health (AIRB) grant (UT3MC39436 PI: Kasari) to develop and test an implementation strategy (UNITED) to support the uptake and implementation of three evidence-based interventions that focus on early intervention, school-aged children, and adolescents with autism with the goal of promoting access and services for underrepresented and under resourced communities. Her experiences have highlighted the importance of collaborating with public schools and the reality of working within the constraints of publicly funded systems, their timeline (e.g. school calendar year), and with their personnel. Dr. Locke served as Co-Director of the UW SMART Center from 2020 – 2023.

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