Autism in Central New York: Research and Practice

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

Evdokia Anagnostou is a clinician scientist at Bloorview Research Institute and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Toronto. Dr Anagnostou completed medical school at McGill University in 1998, and her residency in child neurology in 2003. She is a past research fellow at the Seaver Autism Center of Excellence of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and co-editor of the Clinical Manual for the Treatment of Autism. Her research explores autistic brain function and how it is affected by drugs.

Matthew Belmonte joined the Department of Human Development at Cornell University as an assistant professor three years ago, after research experience in San Diego and Boston and postdoctoral study with Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge. His research has shown that short-range, local connections between brain cells may be abnormally strong in whole families affected by autism, whereas long-range connections may be abnormally disrupted just in those family members who develop autism. Belmonte’s older brother and his niece are autistic.

Karen Fried is a licensed psychologist and Director of Autism Services at the Racker Centers. A 1990 graduate of the Department of Human Development at Cornell, Dr Fried trained in psychology at Rutgers University. Her foci are early diagnosis, intensive behavioural intervention, teaching, and integration of support from families, schools and communities. Dr Fried is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Behavior Analysis International, and the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis.

Bill Hudenko, a licensed psychologist, is assistant professor of clinical psychology and director of the Advancing Autism Treatment laboratory at Ithaca College. He has studied the how children with autism express emotion by voice, and how their learning is affected by emotional cues from others. His current autism research interests include family dynamics, treatment outcomes, and new tests that can measure how symptoms change over time.

Antonio Persico is an associate professor of physiology at the Università “Campus Bio-Medico” and director of the Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry and Psychiatric Genetics at the Fondazione Santa Lucia in Rome. After graduating from Catholic University Medical School in Rome in 1986, he studied neuropsychiatric genetics and the mechanisms of drug-induced changes in brain cells and synapses, at the National Institutes of Health and other laboratories in the United States and Italy. In the 1990s he turned his attention to autism, and the interacting genetic and environmental factors that can predispose to it or protect against it.

• From points north:
  • Follow the 13 south to Triphammer Road south.
  • At the stop sign at a five-way intersection turn left onto Hanshaw Road,
  • pass Triphammer Road and Upland Road, then turn right onto Pleasant Grove Road.
  • Turn right into “A” Lot.
• From Elmira and other points south on the 13:
  • Follow the 13 through Ithaca, then follow the directions from points north.
• From the city of Ithaca and points south on the 96B:
  • The 96B becomes Aurora Street. Cross Green Street, Seneca Street, and Buffalo Street.
  • Turn right onto Court Street.
  • After one block, the road bends sharply left and becomes University Avenue.
  • Follow University Avenue up the hill.
  • Where University Avenue turns sharply right, instead continue straight onto Willard Way.
  • Where Willard Way ends, turn left onto Stewart Avenue (there is no stop sign here).
  • Follow Stewart Avevnue across Fall Creek Gorge.
  • Turn right onto Thurston Avenue and ascend the hill.
  • Turn left onto Wait Avenue.
  • Cross Wyckoff Avenue, pass Kelvin Place on the left, turn left onto Triphammer Road.
  • Pass Sisson Place on the right, turn right onto Jessup Road.
  • Take the next left onto Jessup Place.
  • Turn right into “A” Lot.
• From points east:
  • Follow the 79 west to a flashing amber signal and turn right onto Pine Tree Road.
  • Where Pine Tree Road ends, turn right onto the 366,
  • then immediately left onto Judd Falls Road.
  • Where Judd Falls Road ends, turn right onto Forest Home Drive.
  • Cross the one-lane bridge over Fall Creek, then turn left onto Pleasant Grove Road.
  • After passing Hasbrouck Apartments on the right and Jessup Road on the left,
  • turn left into “A” Lot.

Please park motor vehicles in “A” lot, except for mobility-impaired persons who may park in "R" permit spaces on the north and south sides of RPU. (Please observe all posted restrictions, and DO NOT park in “CC” lot; you will be ticketed!) Bicycle parking is available in racks at the west and south sides of RPU. TCAT bus routes 30 and 31, and afternoon routes 28 and 35, stop at or near Robert Purcell Union. (RPU faces Jessup Road between Triphammer Road and Pleasant Grove Road.)