Heather Agazzi, Ph.D., M.S., ABPP

Professor, College of Medicine Pediatrics

Professor, College of Medicine Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences

Contact Info

• 13101 N. Bruce B. Downs Blvd
  CMS 2078
  Tampa FL 33612
• Academic Email: hcurtis@usf.edu
• Academic Phone: 8139740606
• View My C.V. | View My Website | View My Lab Site

Education

Biography

Heather Agazzi, PhD, MS, is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Chief of the Division of Child Development. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences where she teaches psychiatry fellows in evidence-based early interventions for trauma and disruptive behavior disorders. She is a bilingual (English & Spanish) licensed psychologist and board certified in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. She is the Internship Director of the USF Health Internship in Professional Psychology. Her research interests include behavioral parent training programs for children with developmental disabilities, disruptive behavior disorders and social-emotional problems associated with trauma and/or child welfare involvement. Agazzi has contributed significantly to the literature on parent training with dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters as well as a first author book on early intervention published by Springer. As evidence of her global impact, Agazzi is collaborating with researchers in Australia and Turkey to adapt and disseminate the Helping Our Toddlers, Developing our Children’s Skills parent training intervention.

Academic Philosophy

Interdisciplinary and Emerging Signature Programs

• Women & Children's Health

Research Interests

• Evaluation and treatment for children with disruptive behavior disorders and autism spectrum disorders; Parent Child Interaction Therapy; interventions for early childhood trauma; assessment of autism spectrum disorder

Awards/Honors

• WLP Dr. Kathleen Moore Faculty Excellence Award, Valerie D. Riddle Award (USF, Women in Leadership & Philanthropy - 2023)
• Kosove Distinguished Graduate Teaching and Service Award (USF Honors and Awards Council - 2023)
• ABPP National Examination Board (American Board of Professional Psychology - 2023)
• Child Parent Psychotherapy Training Grant (Sunshine Health - 2019)
• USF Kosove Society Outstanding Alumni Scholar Award (USF Kosove Society - 2008)
• Hispanic Heritage Community Award (Hispanic Heritage Community - 2007)

Memberships

• Member (American Psychological Association (APA), 2009 - Present)
• Treasurer 2008-2010, Member (Florida Association of Infant Mental Health (FAIMH), 2009 - Present)
• Member (National Association of School Psychologists, 2002 - Present)

Recent Publications

• Jannat, Sk R., Agazzi, H. & Canavan, S. Context-based Dataset for Analysis of Videos of Autistic Children IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition. , 2024.
• Agazzi, H., Dickinson, S. & Plant, R. Helping Our Toddlers, Developing Our Children's Skills: Innovative Behavioral Management Training for Pediatric Residents. Advances in pediatrics. 69(1) : 13-21, 2022.
• Agazzi, H., Hayford, H., Thomas, N., Ortiz, C., & Salinas-Miranda, A. Pandemic parenting: A pilot study of in-person versus internet-DOCS K-5 for caregivers of school-age children with disruptive behaviors. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. 27(3) : 569-585, 2022.
• Gray, H.L., Pang, T., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., Kim, E., Miltenberger, R.G., Waters, K.A., Jimenez, C., Harris, M., & Stern, M. A nutrition education intervention to improve eating behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial Contemporary Clinical Trials. 119(106814) , 2022.
• Agazzi, H., Najmabadi, S., Flood, J., Cimorelli, D., Chenneville, T. COVID-19 Adaptations for Health Service Psychology Internship Training in a Medical School. Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings. 29(1) : 80-91, 2022.
• 26. Gray, H.L. †, Buro, A.W.*, Robinson, C., Slye, N., Wang, W., Sinha, S., Kirby, R., Berkman, K., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., & Marshall, J. A mixed methods study to examine dietary intake of children with autism spectrum disorder and parental perspectives on nutrition in Florida Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. 38(4) : 258-267, 2022.
• Agazzi, H., Soca Locano, S., & Hernandez, M . Low treatment fidelity as an indication to switch interventions: Pivoting from Child Parent Psychotherapy to Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for early childhood trauma Clinical Case Studies. , 2022.
• Gray, H.L., Pang, T., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., Kim, E., Miltenberger, R.G., Waters, K., Jimenez, C., Harris, M., Stern, M. A nutrition education intervention to improve eating behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorder: Study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Contemporary clinical trials. 119: 106814, 2022.
• Agazzi, H., Hayford, H., Thomas, N., Ortiz, C., Salinas-Miranda, A. A nonrandomized trial of a behavioral parent training intervention for parents with children with challenging behaviors: In-person versus internet-HOT DOCS. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry. 26(4) : 1076-1088, 2021.
• Dickinson, S., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., & Ferron, J. Smart Start: A Feasible Intervention for Young Children with Disabilities and Trauma Journal of Public Child Welfare. 16(3) : 402-426, 2021.
• Buro, A.W., Gray, H.L., Kirby, R.S., Berkman, K., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E. Diet quality in an ethnically diverse sample of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder compared with nationally representative data. Disability and health journal. 14(1) : 100981, 2021.
• Dunlop, S., Kimonis, E., & Agazzi, H. Adapting and implementing the ‘Helping Our Toddlers, Developing Our Children’s Skills (HOT DOCS)’ in an Australian context: A feasibility study. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. 6(1) : 28-46, 2020.
• Agazzi, H., Knap, K., & Kimonis, E. Parent–Child Interaction Therapy-callous unemotional adaptation for a pre-school boy with conduct problems. Clinical Case Studies. 19(5) : 370-385, 2020.
• Fabiano, D., Canavan, S., Agazzi, H., & Goldgof, D. Gaze-based classification of autism spectrum disorder. Pattern Recognition Letters. 135: 204-212, 2020.
• Agazzi, H., Adams, C., Ferron, E., Ferron, J., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., & Salloum, A. Trauma-Informed Behavioral Parenting for Early Intervention. Journal of Child and Family Studies. 28(8) : 2172-2186, 2019.
• Gray, H.L., Sinha, S., Buro, A.W., Robinson, C., Berkman, K., Agazzi, H., Shaffer-Hudkins, E. Early History, Mealtime Environment, and Parental Views on Mealtime and Eating Behaviors among Children with ASD in Florida. Nutrients. 10(12) , 2018.
• Tan, S.Y., Steding, L., Coates, E., & Agazzi, H. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and ADHD: A Case Study with a Hearing Child of a Deaf Father and a Hearing Mother. Child & Family Behavior Therapy. 40(1) : 65-83, 2018.
• Dickinson S, & Agazzi H. A Father with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and a Son with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Case Study. Military Behavioral Health. : 1-9, 2018.
• Agazzi H, Tan S, Y, Ogg J, Armstrong K, & Kirby R. Does Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Reduce Maternal Stress, Anxiety and Depression among Mothers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder? Child & Family Behavior Therapy. 39(4) : 283-303, 2017.
• Monahan M, Jordan-Arthur B, & Agazzi H, . The Implementation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for the Treatment of Tourette Syndrome (TS) and Disruptive Behavior. Clinical Case Studies. 17(1) : 38-54, 2017.
• Armstrong, K., Jeffries DeLoatche, K., Preece, K. & Agazzi, H. Combining Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and visual supports for the treatment of challenging behavior in a child with autism and intellectual disabilities and comorbid epilepsy. Clinical Case Studies. 13(2) : 115-127, 2014.
• Ogg J, Shaffer-Hudkins E, Childres J, Feldman M, Agazzi H, Armstrong K. Attendance and implementation of strategies in a behavioral parent-training program: comparisons between English and Español programs. Infant mental health journal. 35(6) : 555-64, 2014.
• Agazzi, H., Tan, R., & Tan, S.Y. A case study of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Case Studies. 6(12) : 428-442, 2013.
• Hangauger, J., Shaffer-Hudkins, E., & Agazzi, H. The Primary service provider model in early intervention: Relationship focused intervention for children birth-three. Child Care in Practice. 19(4) : 421-435, 2013.
• Williams, J., Armstrong, K., Agazzi, H., & Bradley-Klug, K. Helping Our Toddlers, Developing Our Children’s Skills (HOT DOCS): A parenting intervention to prevent and address challenging behavior in young children. Journal of Early Childhood & Infant Psychology. (6) : 1-20, 2011.
• Childres, J., Agazzi, H. & Armstrong, K. Evaluating Outcomes of a Behavioral Parent Training Program for Caregivers of Young Children: Waitlist Control vs. Immediate Treatment. Journal of Early Childhood & Infant Psychology. (7) : 25-44, 2011.
• Agazzi, H., Armstrong, K., &Bradley-Klug, K. BMI and physical activity among at-risk sixth- and ninth-grade students, Hillsborough County, Florida, 2005-2006. Preventing chronic disease. 7(3) : A48, 2010.
• Agazzi, H., Salinas, A., Williams, J., Chiriboga, D., Ortiz, C., & Armstrong, K. Adaptation of a behavioral parent-training curriculum for Hispanic caregivers: HOT DOCS Español. Infant mental health journal. 31(2) : 182-200, 2010.
• Curtiss, H., Armstrong, K., & Lilly, C. Positive behavior support and pediatric feeding problems: A case study. Journal of Early Childhood and Infant Psychology. 4: 93-109, 2008.