Advisors

Paul Appelbaum is the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and director of the Center for Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia University. Previously, Appelbaum was the A.F. Zeleznik Distinguished Professor, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, and director…

Becca Lory was diagnosed on the autism spectrum as an adult and has since become an active autism advocate, consultant, speaker and writer. With a focus on living an active, positive life, her work includes autism consulting; public speaking engagements; writing a…

Sandy Magaña holds the professorship in autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work (UT SSW). She received a master’s in social work from California State University, San Bernardino, and her Ph.D. from the Heller…

Heather C. Mefford, is a Member, Faculty at St. Jude’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Mefford has a research laboratory devoted to the discovery of novel genetic and genomic causes of pediatric disease. 

Megan O’Boyle is the parent of a 17-year-old daughter with Phelan-McDermid syndrome. This diagnosis includes autism, intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other medical conditions. She is the principal investigator for the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Data Network and the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome…

Kevin Sanders is currently based in Basel, Switzerland, where he has worked for Roche for the past two years. He is the Global Lead for the Autism Program for Roche Product Development.

Scott Sutherland is a software engineer and staff scientist at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University in 1995, by combining graduate and undergraduate courses in computer science and…