Our Team

Lilliam joined the Simons Foundation in June 2018 as the outreach manager for Autism BrainNet, a postmortem brain tissue repository for research into the causes of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions. Acosta-Sanchez manages and facilitates ongoing outreach and communication efforts to help…

Irina Astrovskaya joined the Simons Foundation in 2017 to develop pipelines for identification and functional annotation of mutations and structural variants in next-generation sequencing data. Her role is to analyze genomic data in the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) cohort and…

Sarah Barns joined the Simons Foundation in 2020 as a genomics associate for SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). In this role, she supports the large-scale return of genetic results to participants. She is also responsible for monitoring the day-to-day activities of…

As a senior software engineer, Asif Bashar is responsible for the development, optimization and UX/UI enhancement of various SPARK (Simons Powering Autism Research) applications, including Return of Results and Research Match.

Marta Benedetti joined the Simons Foundation in 2007 and works with the SFARI team to evaluate and manage the SFARI autism grant portfolio, with particular emphasis on grants in the area of molecular and cellular biology.

Serena Bianchi joined the foundation in 2017 as science writer for SFARI.org. In 2019, she also became science writer for Autism BrainNet, a SFARI initiative that promotes autism research using postmortem brain tissue. As of May 2020, she is the editor of…

Libby Brooks is a psychologist helping Simons Searchlight and SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) analyze and manage clinical data. She has been involved in autism research since she began working with the Simons Foundation in 2010 as a research assistant on the Simons Simplex Collection.…

Martin Butler joined the Simons Foundation’s Informatics group in early 2015 to work on front-end development of new SFARI programs. Butler holds a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Pace University in New York and M.S. in computer science…

Lindsey Cartner joined the Simons Foundation in 2016 to provide support to Simons Searchlight. Since then she has joined the SPARK team and taken on increasing responsibilities. Cartner helps to organize and coordinate SPARK events and provides internal meeting support to the team.…

Daniella Charzuk joined the foundation in February 2022 as a grants administrator. She is responsible for providing administrative support for pre- and post-award activities within SFARI. Prior to joining, she worked in Sweden as an administrator in higher and vocational education and…

Wubin Chin joined the Simons Foundation in 2016 as a member of the Informatics team. Chin brings with him more than ten years of experience in multiple systems across various industries. Prior to joining the foundation, he worked at Zignage LLC as…

Dave Cho joined the Simons Foundation’s Informatics group in 2018 as a senior software engineer. Prior to the foundation, Cho worked for Pitney Bowes global ecommerce division and maintained millions of catalog data sets and conducted training sessions for better productivity. Cho…

Wendy Chung is director of clinical research at SFARI and the principal investigator of SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) and Simons Searchlight. She joined the foundation in 2012, after serving on the SFARI’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Nicole Coman joined Autism BrainNet in 2016 and is a member of the clinical team. She conducts clinical interviews with donor families and gathers additional clinical information about the Autism BrainNet donors. Coman is a licensed psychologist in the Boston area. She…

Amy Daniels oversees the day-to-day activities of SPARK, from recruitment efforts to online participation to the recontacting of families to participate in new research efforts.

Katie DeMallie joined the foundation in 2022. As grants manager, she provides comprehensive grants administration for SFARI Clinical, Collaborations, and Targeted pre- and post-award activities. Prior to joining, DeMallie directed awards and fellowship programs at the French-American Foundation and worked on communications…

Victoria Deterding joined the Simons Foundation in 2020 as a member of the SFARI team. Prior to joining the Simons Foundation, Victoria worked as the executive assistant to the director at the Health & Human Services Department in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Her previous…

Katharine Diehl works on SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research)’s 31 grant-funded clinical sites, managing day-to-day communications with network principal investigators and staff relating to their roles and responsibilities per the SPARK protocol. She develops training materials for staff onboarding, monitors site…

Ron Edgar joined the Simon Foundation’s Informatics team in July 2018 and leads a number of projects, including the Vesta platform, Autism BrainNet portal and Events system. Edgar has been consulting for the foundation since 2015 and before that was vice president…

Malak Enayetallah joined the Simons Foundation in 2021 as a research assistant for SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). Enayetallah assists with numerous aspects of SPARK, including SFARI Base and resource distribution, Research Match, compliance, as well as operations. Her responsibilities include…

Christopher Feldsine is the editorial associate for SFARI.org. He joined the Simons Foundation in 2021 following several years at BMJ, where he worked as an editorial assistant on BMJ’s publishing team. He received his B.A. in English and American literature from New…

Pamela Feliciano joined the Simons Foundation in 2013 and serves as the scientific director of SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) and is a senior scientist at SFARI.

Gerald Fischbach joined the Simons Foundation in early 2006 to oversee the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. Formerly, he was dean of the faculty of health sciences and of medicine at Columbia University, and director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders…

Christopher Fleisch joined the Simons Foundation in July 2007. He currently works with the SFARI data and analytics team doing bibliometrics and network analysis, building ETL processes, testing and building software used for genomics pipelines, performing adhoc genetic analyses and supporting the…

Tammi Fumberi joined the Simons Foundation in 2015, bringing with her extensive experience in healthcare administration and event management. Previously, Fumberi worked as an administrative assistant at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, coordinating the operations and personnel for the hospital’s Language and International…

Swami Ganesan is the group product manager for Simons Searchlight and SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). In this capacity, he leads a team of product analysts and consultants who support the designing, building, maintaining and scaling of the online research platforms that…

Alexandra Goler joined the Simons Foundation in June 2021 as a research assistant for SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). She supports the genomics team in returning genetic results to people with autism and their families in SPARK. Before joining the foundation,…

LeeAnne Green Snyder joined the Simons Foundation in 2014 after working for the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) and Simons Searchlight (formerly known as Simons VIP) for eight years at the University of Michigan and the Harvard University/Boston Children’s Hospital sites, respectively. She advises on protocol design,…

Stacey Greenebaum has enjoyed a broad professional career that includes work in New York City government, law, publishing, design and consulting to small businesses on matters of brand communication. She holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, a J.D. from the University…

Marion Greenup joined the Simons Foundation in 2007 as vice president of administration. She is responsible for developing and managing administrative systems and policies to support the foundation’s programs.

Jasvir Grewal is a software engineer with the Vesta Informatics team. Prior to joining the Simons Foundation, Grewal was a software engineer at Dealertrack of New Hyde Park, New York, where he was responsible for the development of web applications for automobile…

Brigitta Gundersen joined the foundation in 2016 as a member of the team of scientists responsible for managing SFARI’s autism. In particular, she focuses on grants involving work in animal models employing behavioral, electrophysiological, and molecular approaches. She is also responsible for…

Jake Hall joined the Simons Foundation in 2018. On the data and analytics team of SFARI Informatics, Hall helps manage, curate and analyze SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) and other SFARI genetic datasets and helps the clinical genomics team with return…

Jessica Hernandez joined the foundation in 2021. She now serves the role of a project coordinator on the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) team. She assists with day-to-day administrative duties and coordinates projects across the entire SPARK team. In the past, Hernandez…

Alison Holbrook is a research psychologist with over 10 years of experience working with children and families enrolled in autism research programs. As part of the SFARI team, she works on phenotypic data collection, data management and analysis for the Simons Searchlight…

Jane Hong joined the Simons Foundation in 2022. As the research outreach coordinator, she interacts with the multifaceted Simons Searchlight team. From supporting the study’s communication efforts for outreach to working with clinical psychologists on data visualization, she is involved with creating…

Stanley Jean joined the team in August of 2020 as a product analyst under the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) umbrella. Jean is responsible for working closely with engineering, clinical and data teams throughout the full product development lifecycle for both…

Erica Jones holds an M.A. in communication with a concentration in integrated marketing communication from Suffolk University. She joined the Simons Foundation in 2020 after working as the director of institutional advancement at Somerville Media Center for nearly a decade. At Simons…

As the clinical director for Autism BrainNet, Carolyn Komich-Hare’s primary responsibility involves working directly with donor families, the informatics team and SFARI leadership with the goal of providing researchers (utilizing postmortem brain tissue) with the richest possible phenotypic information. Komich-Hare is also responsible for…

Alex Lash joined the Simons Foundation in March 2012 to lead the further development and dissemination of the foundation’s extensive scientific data assets — particularly those related to autism spectrum disorders — as well as to oversee the automation of its scientific…

David Leyden rejoined the Simons Foundation in 2021 and serves as the director of SFARI & Neuroscience Programs Finance & Operations. In this role, Leyden is responsible for overseeing all aspects of finance, operations, program and research administration for SFARI and the…

Marti Luby joined the SFARI team in September 2021 as part of the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) cohort. She serves as the day-to-day coordinator for over a dozen Research Match projects and also serves as a member of the SFARI…

Alice Luo Clayton joined the foundation in 2011. Her role involves managing programs related to neural circuits and behavior in animal models, such as the Autism Rat Model Consortium RFA, and human cohorts, such as the Human Cognitive and Behavioral Science RFA. In addition,…

Malcolm Mallardi works to provide a stable platform for many of the Simons Foundation’s initiatives and brands. His duties include advising software engineering teams, performing large data transfers and focusing on computing and server security. Since late 2015, he has brought his…

Kelsey Martin joined the Simons Foundation in September 2021 as director of SFARI and the Simons Foundation Neuroscience Collaborations. She previously served as dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), chair of the…

CeCe McBride is the outreach specialist for Autism BrainNet at the Simons Foundation. Before joining the Simons Foundation in September 2020, McBride worked for almost 10 years in public health, focusing on organ and tissue donation and, most recently, on pandemic contact…

Richard McFarland joined the staff in 2011, having previously served as divisional administrator for the Center for Theoretical Neuroscience at Columbia University. Before that, he worked at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) as grants manager and team leader of grants…

Dennis Vasquez Montes joined the Simons Foundation in the summer of 2019 as a member of the SFARI Data and Analytics team. Montes works alongside his team to support and design multiple dashboards offering tools for summarizing and connecting data from the…

Natalie Nagpal joined the foundation in 2019 and currently works for SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). She worked as a clinical site coordinator until January 2022 and currently works for the SPARK product team where she assists in the maintenance and…

Alan Packer joined the Simons Foundation in 2009 to work with a team of scientists responsible for SFARI’s autism grant portfolio, with a particular emphasis on grants in the area of cell and developmental biology, and genetics.

Esmeralda Perez is the help desk administrator with SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research). She joined the Simons Foundation in April 2021 and is responsible for responding to and resolving inquiries to the SPARK help desk from prospective and existing SPARK participants,…

Rishiraj Rana is an experienced IT engineer, with over a decade of experience in architecting, deploying, automating and maintaining complex cloud and on-premises systems. He has worked for a public-sector government project, a private sector financial organization, and a fast-paced startup environment…

Louis Reichardt joined the foundation to lead SFARI in 2013. His role at SFARI is to set strategic priorities that guide funding decisions and to identify new opportunities for enhancing the scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorders as well as improving diagnosis…

Beverly Robertson is the Participant Engagement and Outreach Manager with SPARK. She is working to create and cultivate a research community of individuals with ASD and their families. Robertson joined the Simons Foundation in 2016 after spending 20 years working in maternal…

Mahfuza Sabiha joined the Simons Foundation in June 2020 as a research assistant for SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research), where she was mainly supporting SPARK’s research match program as well as assisting with other tasks throughout SFARI’s collections and operations team.…

Neelay Shah joined the Simons Foundation with over a decade of experience in application analysis, design and architecture. He has strong analytical abilities and experience in troubleshooting business-critical environments. Before coming to Simons Foundation, Shah worked in ed-tech, ecommerce and the media…

Swapnil Shah joined the Simons Foundation’s Informatics team in 2017 as a software engineer working on front-end development. Prior to joining the foundation, Shah worked as a software developer for Gartner Inc., where he was responsible for developing interactive, SEO-friendly, fully responsive…

Jonah Shifrin joined the Simons Foundation in 2022 as a SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) participant experience associate. As a member of the help desk, Shifrin provides technical and educational support to all participant families in SPARK.

Julia Sommer joined the Simons Foundation in 2011 to become a member of the team of scientists that manage SFARI’s grant portfolio and targeted projects. She mainly focuses on grants of cellular and molecular studies in autism, including many projects that make…

John Spiro joined the foundation in 2007 and until 2020 was deputy scientific director, where he worked with the SFARI director to oversee all aspects of the foundation’s autism research initiatives, including managing a team of scientists and administrative staff involved in…

Dominique Stilletti joined the SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research) team in 2021. She is responsible for overseeing all digital aspects of SPARK, including, but not limited to, organic and paid social media advertising and other digital advertising, digital asset management and…

Priyam Thind joined the Simons Foundation in 2022. She primarily manages Research Match for the SFARI cohorts, a process by which existing cohort participants are recruited into new research projects. She also advises on day-to-day issues related to compliance and the distribution…

Tamara Thomas joined the Simons Foundation in September 2020 and currently serves as a grants administrator for SFARI Annual, Director and Conference award programs. She is responsible for providing administrative support for pre- and post-award activities. Prior to joining the Simons Foundation,…

Allegra Thomas joined the foundation in 2016 as a member of the SFARI team. She received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and will complete her M.P.A. at Baruch College at the end of 2022. Prior to…

Jennifer Tjernagel joined the foundation in 2010 to manage the Simons Searchlight program (formerly Simons Variation in Individuals Project) after her previous work as the project manager for the Simons Simplex Collection working through the University of Michigan. Prior to that, she held…

Natalia Volfovsky joined the foundation in 2013 to oversee analytics support of the data initiatives within the foundation. She leads a team of data analysts and bioinformatic engineers that operates SFARI Base, supports SFARI Gene and scientific administration databases and implements computational…

Paul Wang joined Clinical Research Associates (CRA) and the Simons Foundation in 2016. He helps to oversee portions of SFARI’s clinical research portfolio, and CRA’s work with the experimental drug arbaclofen.

Casey White-Lehman is responsible for overseeing management and distribution of SFARI resources, including phenotype and genetic data, biospecimens and Research Match via the online platform SFARI Base. She is also the lead manager of the SFARI Research Match program, which connects researchers…

Simon Xuming Xu joined the Simon’s Foundation in 2018 and serves as a senior engineer of bioinformatics in the Data and Analytics group.