Phillip Sherlock
Research Scientist
About
Dr. Phillip Sherlock is a Research Scientist at the Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. He specializes in the use of integrated administrative data for transdisciplinary research, policy development, and research-practice partnerships. His work has supported the development of Florida's Sunshine State Data Portal, a statewide repository of administrative data for early childhood health and education services. As a research methodologist, his expertise spans person-centered machine learning techniques, artificial intelligence, neural networks, and structural equation modeling to evaluate interventions and contextualized risk in early childhood.
Affiliations
- Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies
Research Interests
Artificial Intelligence, Assessment and Evaluation, Big Data, Early Childhood, Early Childhood Studies, Machine Learning, Policy Development, Quantitative Research, Research Design, Statistical Power Analysis
Education
- Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Research Methods, University of South Carolina (2019)
- B.A. in Psychology, University of Illinois (2011)
Professional Appointments
- Data Scientist IV, Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies, University of Florida (2023–Present)
- Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (2020–2023)
- Faculty Affiliate, Institute for Innovations in Developmental Sciences (DevSci), Northwestern University (2020–2023)
- Statistical Consultant, Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies, University of Florida (2018–2020)
- Data Scientist, Office of Special Education Services, South Carolina Department of Education (2017–2020)
- Research Assistant, Yvonne & Schuyler Moore Child Development Research Center, University of South Carolina (2014–2017)
- Research Assistant, Research, Evaluation and Measurement Center, University of South Carolina (2013–2015)
Activities and Honors
- Member, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Research Consortium (2020–Present)
- Member, PROMIS Health Organization (2020–Present)
- Member, Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium (2015–Present)
Selected Grants
Sunshine State Early Childhood Information Portal: Florida's Early Childhood Integrated System
Role
- Data Scientist
Funding Agency
- Sub-Award through Florida's Office of Early Learning, US ACF
Project Period
- 07/01/2023–06/01/2028
Longitudinal Peer Social Networks and Early Language Development
Role
- Data Scientist
Funding Agency
- Spencer Foundation, Lyle Spencer Research Award
Project Period
- 04/01/2021–09/30/2025
Sunshine State Early Childhood Information Portal: Florida's Early Childhood Integrated System
Role
- Site PI
Funding Agency
- Sub-Award through UF, US ACF
Project Period
- 07/01/2020–06/01/2023
Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program (U240D023319-02)
Role
- Co-Investigator
Funding Agency
- National Institutes of Health
Project Period
- 09/01/2019–08/31/2023
The When to Worry about Language Study (W2W-L) (R01DC016273)
Role
- Co-Investigator
Funding Agency
- National Institutes of Health
Project Period
- 04/01/2018–03/31/2023
Administrative Data to Inform State CCDBG Subsidy Policies (90YE0176)
Role
- Research Assistant
Funding Agency
- US ACF, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation
Project Period
- 10/01/2015–02/28/2017
Selected Publications
Articles
- Sherlock, P., Mansolf, M., Hofheimer, J., Hockett, C. W., O’Connor, T. G., Roubinov, D., … & program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. (under review). Beyond linear risk: A machine learning approach to understanding perinatal depression in context.
- Drexler, C., Mansolf, M., Calma-Birling, D., Sherlock, P., Blackwell, C. K., & Zelazo, P. D. (under review). Specific Early Childhood Experiences Predict Executive Function Skills during Later Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from the ECHO Cohort.
- Jansen, E., Mansolf, M., Sherlock, P., Hua, S., Burns, J. L., Blackwell, C. K., … & Carnell, S. (under review). Application of recursive partitioning to determine predictors of child eating behaviors and parental feeding practices in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) cohort.
- Moog, N. K., Mansolf, M., Sherlock, P., Adibi, J. J., Barrett, E. S., Entringer, S., ... & program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. (2025). Maternal thyroid dysfunction and depressive symptoms during pregnancy and child behavioral and emotional problems–an ECHO multi-cohort investigation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 380, 475-486.
- Enlow, M. B., Blackwell, C. K., Sherlock, P., Mansolf, M., Bekelman, T. A., Blair, C., ... & program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. (2024). The influence of early childhood education and care on the relation between early-life social adversity and children’s mental health in the environmental influences for Child Health Outcomes Program. Development and psychopathology, 1-19.
- Hu, Y., Sherlock, P., Huang, J., Knopf, H. T., & Hall, J. M. (2024). Unveiling spatial mismatch in childcare supply and demand: An excess commuting analysis of home-to-childcare distance in subsidized families. Journal of Transport Geography, 116, 103829.
- Blackwell, C. K., Mansolf, M., Deoni, S. C., Ganiban, J. M., Leve, L. D., Margolis, A. E., ... Sherlock, P., … & program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes Program. (2024, March). The impact of COVID19 school disruptions on children’s learning. In Frontiers in education (Vol. 9, p. 1295910). Frontiers Media SA.
- Yun, H. S., Arjmand, M., Sherlock, P., Paasche-Orlow, M. K., Griffith, J. W., & Bickmore, T. (2024, September). Keeping Users Engaged During Repeated Interviews by a Virtual Agent: Using Large Language Models to Reliably Diversify Questions. In Proceedings of the 24th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (pp. 1-10).
- Morris, I. F., Mansolf, M., Sherlock, P. R., Calub, C., Camargo Jr, C. A., Kelly, R. S., ... & program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes. (2024). The relation between family familiarity with autism and developmental outcomes. Neurodiversity, 2, 27546330241280701.
- Sherlock, P., Mansolf, M., Blackwell, C. K., Blair, C., Cella, D., Deoni, S., ... & Zelazo, P. D. (2023). Life satisfaction for adolescents with developmental and behavioral disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Life satisfaction for adolescents with developmental and behavioral disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatric research, 95(3), 827-834.
- Wakschlag, L. S., Sherlock, P., Blackwell, C. K., Burns, J. L., Krogh-Jespersen, S., Gershon, R. C., ... & Luby, J. L. (2023). Modeling the normal: abnormal spectrum of early childhood internalizing behaviors: A clinical-developmental approach for the Multidimensional Assessment Profiles Internalizing Dimensions. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, e1987.
- Blackwell, C. K., Sherlock, P., Jackson, K. L., Hofheimer, J. A., Cella, D., Algermissen, M. A., ... & Margolis, A. E. (2023). Development and psychometric validation of the Pandemic-Related Traumatic Stress Scale for children and adults. Psychological assessment, 35(11), 1054.
- Hipwell, A. E., Tung, I., Sherlock, P., Tang, X., McKee, K., McGrath, M., Alshawabkeh, A., Bastain, T., Breton, C. V., Cowell, W., Dabelea, D., Duarte, C. S., Dunlop, A. L., Ferrera, A., Herbstman, J. B., Hockett, C. W., Karagas, M. R., Keenan, K., Krafty, R. T., Monk, C., … program collaborators for Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (2023). Impact of sedentary behavior and emotional support on prenatal psychological distress and birth outcomes during the COVID19 pandemic. Psychological medicine, 1–14. Advance online publication.