The NJACE Professional and Community Advisory Board is composed of varied stakeholders including leaders in autism research, training and service, people with ASD, families affected by ASD, and businesses involved with technology. The Board provides input to the NJACE to help identify research and training gaps and to provide guidance regarding priorities and activities.

 

Professional and Community Advisory Board Members

  • Gary Aston-Jones, PhD | Director Brain Health Institute, Rutgers
  • Michael Decker | President and CEO of EDEN Autism Services
  • Mary O’Dowd, MPH |  Executive Director, Rutgers Health Systems & Population Health Integration
  • Robert Holzapfel | Parent of ASD teenager and CEO of HPPH LLC
  • Manisha Lad | Parent of an adolescent with ASD, Founder and Executive Director of Akhil Autism Foundation
  • Matthew Menza, MD | Rutgers-RWJMS Chairman of the Psychiatry Department
  • Lucy J. Miller, PhD | Director of the STAR Institute for Sensory Processing Disorders in CO, founder of Sensory Processing Disorders (SP-3D) Test (at WPS) the standardized guidelines to assess SPD in clinical settings
  • Prabhas Moghe, PhD | Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation, Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers
  • Monica Osgood | Executive Director and Founder of the Celebrate the Children School model of inclusion, alternative learning styles and presumed competence in developmental disabilities
  • Rachel Power, MD | Parent of an adult with ASD, Child Psychiatrist, Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care
  • Adrienne Robertiello | Parent of a teen with ASD, Special Needs Educator/Outreach Coordinator, Children’s Specialized Hospital; Chair Scotch Plains Disability Advisory Committee; outreach educator to first responders and other community members
  • Elizabeth Rosenzweig, PhD | PhD Student in Quantitative Biomedicine, Autistic Self-Advocate
  • Kim Mitchell-Rushmore, LCSW | Program Director Independence 360, organization providing varied array of services for people with ASD through the lifespan
  • Kathleen Scotto, PhD | Vice President for Research, Vice-Dean School of Graduate Studies, Rutgers
  • Deborah Spitalnik, PhD | Executive Director, The Boggs Center RWJ Medical School, Rutgers University
  • Jen Schonger | Mom of a lovely autistic daughter. Family Faculty at Children’s Specialized Hospital
  • Rachel Tait | Chief Program Officer of EDEN Autism Services
  • Anne Marie Veno | Parent of a teen with autism, Founder and Co-leader of West Windsor-Plainsboro Special Kids Special Parents a community-based support group for parents of special need children/adults.
  • Serena Wieder, PhD | Author and Creator of the Developmental Individual-differences & Relationship (DIR) Floortime® Model
  • Walter Zahorodny, PhD | Rutgers NJ Medical School, Director of NJ Autism Study ADDM Network
  • Ellen and Jonah Zimiles | Parents of an adult with ASD, owners of [words] bookstore, dedicated to promoting inclusive community involvement for people with autism and other disabilities
  • Suzanne Buchanan, PsyD, BCBA-D | Executive Director, Autism New Jersey
  • Geraldine Dawson, PhD | Director of Duke University Center for Autism & Brain Development, Past President INSAR
  • Connie Kasari, PhD | Center for Autism Research and Treatment, UCLA
  • Jonathan Kratchman | Self-advocate, college student, former Eagleton Institute of Politics-Rutgers Fellow
  • David Mandell, ScD | Director Center for Mental Health Policy and Services Research, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania
  • Aleta Murphy | Sibling of an adult with ASD, former NJ LEND fellow, staff Dept of Neurology, RWJMS
  • Amy Pappert, MD | Parent of an adult with ASD, physician
  • Janice Prontnicki, MD, MPH, FAAP | Rutgers NJ Medical School, Director-Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics
  • Arnold Rabson, MD Director | Child Health Institute of NJ, Professor Rutgers RWJ Medical School
  • Rosann Richards | Parent of youth with ASD; Manager of Student Accounting at Rutgers Office of Business Services in Newark, NJ
  • Alexander Rosa | Self-advocate, college student
  • Lori Shery | Parent of an adult with ASD, founder and Executive Director Asperger Autism Spectrum Education Network (ASPEN)
  • Michelle Wieser | Parent of an adolescent with ASD, involved in research to define the female phenotype. Contributing author book chapter “It’s a Girl’s Life”