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D
Biographic Sketches of Workshop Planning
Committee, Forum Members, Invited
Speakers, and Staff
WORKSHOP PLANNING COMMITTEE
Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. (Workshop Chair, Neuroscience Forum, Chair),
is chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of its journal,
Science. Previously Dr. Leshner had been director of the National Insti-
tute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
and deputy director and acting director of the National Institute of Men-
tal Health (NIMH). Before that, he held a variety of senior positions at
the National Science Foundation (NSF). Dr. Leshner began his career at
Bucknell University, where he was professor of psychology. Dr. Leshner
is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National
Academies, and a fellow of AAAS, the National Academy of Public
Administration, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He
was appointed by the U.S. President to the National Science Board, and
is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of NIH. He re-
ceived an A.B. in psychology from Franklin and Marshall College and an
M.S. and a Ph.D. in physiological psychology from Rutgers University.
Dr. Leshner also holds honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Frank-
lin and Marshall College and Pavlov Medical University in St. Peters-
burg, Russia.
Duane Alexander, M.D., was named director of the National Institute
of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in 1986, after
serving as the Institute’s acting director. Much of his career has been
with NICHD. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Pennsyl-
vania State University, Dr. Alexander earned his M.D. from Johns
311
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312 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Hopkins University School of Medicine. Following his internship and
residency at the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital,
he joined NICHD in 1968 as a clinical associate in the Children’s Diag-
nostic and Study Branch. Following his tenure with the branch,
Dr. Alexander returned to Johns Hopkins as a fellow in pediatrics
(developmental disabilities) at the John F. Kennedy Institute for Habilita-
tion of the Mentally and Physically Handicapped Child. He returned
to NICHD in 1971, when he became assistant to the scientific director
and directed the NICHD National Amniocentesis Study. He is a diplo-
mate of the American Board of Pediatrics and a member of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, the American Pediatric Society, and the Society
for Develop-mental Pediatrics. For more than a decade, he also served as
the U.S. observer on the Steering Committee on Bioethics for the Coun-
cil of Europe. As an officer in the Public Health Service (PHS), Dr.
Alexander has received numerous PHS awards, including a Commenda-
tion Medal in 1970, a Meritorious Service Medal, and a Special Recogni-
tion Award in 1985. He also received the Surgeon General’s Exemplary
Service Medal in 1990, and the Surgeon General’s Medallion in 1993
and 2002. In addition, Dr. Alexander is the author of numerous articles
and book chapters, most of which relate to his research in developmental
disabilities.
Mark Blaxill is the father of a daughter diagnosed with autism and vice
president of SafeMinds. He spent most of his professional career at the
Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a senior vice president.
While at BCG he was the leader of the firm’s Strategy Practice and led
firm initiatives in the area of globalization, open source software, intel-
lectual property, and network analysis. He has wide industry experience,
including client assignments in information services, pharmaceuticals,
consumer electronics, and retailing. He has worked on a wide range of
business problems for CEOs and heads of strategy of Fortune 100 and
Dow Jones Index companies. He is writing a book on the subject of intel-
lectual property strategies for business and launching a new business
venture. He is a named inventor on BCG’s first patent application. He
holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree
in international affairs from Princeton University. He is also the author of
several publications on autism, including “What’s Going On? The Ques-
tion of Time Trends in Autism” (Public Health Reports, 2004); “Re-
duced Mercury Levels in First Baby Haircuts of Autistic Children”
(International Journal of Toxicology, 2003); and “Thimerosal and Au-
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313
APPENDIX D
tism? A Plausible Hypothesis That Should Not Be Dismissed” (Medical
Hypotheses, 2004). He has been a frequent speaker on autism-related
issues, including conference presentations for Neurotoxicology (2006),
Defeat Autism Now! (2001, 2006), Autism One (2004, 2005, and 2006),
National Autism Association (2005), National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences (NIEHS) (2005), and the IOM Immunization Safety Re-
view (2001).
Laura Bono is a board member, cofounder, and chair emeritus of the
National Autism Association (NAA). Along with NIEHS and SafeMinds,
she helped to plan and execute the Environmental Factors in Neurode-
velopmental Disorders Symposium. She graduated from the University
of South Carolina with a B.S. in journalism with a minor in marketing.
She currently serves as director of marketing for the Parent Institute
and has more than 25 years of business experience in marketing. The
youngest of her three children has been diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder.
Sophia Colamarino, Ph.D., is vice president of research at Autism
Speaks. Among her duties, Dr. Colamarino manages and oversees Au-
tism Speaks’ Biology Portfolio and new High Risk/High Impact pro-
gram. After 16 years of research experience, she joined Cure Autism
Now (CAN) in November 2004 as Science Director to oversee the sci-
ence program in association with the CAN Scientific Review Council.
She graduated with dual degrees in biological sciences and psychology
from Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. in neurosciences from
University of California–San Francisco (UCSF), where she studied brain
development with distinguished neuroscientist Marc Tessier-Lavigne,
Ph.D. After receiving her Ph.D., she conducted research on the genetic
disorder Kallmann Syndrome at the Telethon Institute for Genetics and
Medicine in Milan, Italy, led by human geneticist Andrea Ballabio, M.D.
She then returned to the United States to work at the Salk Institute in La
Jolla, CA, studying adult neural stem cells and brain regeneration in the
laboratory of stem cell pioneer Fred H. Gage, Ph.D. Dr. Colamarino’s
research career has included publications in journals such as Cell and
Nature. During her tenure at CAN, Dr. Colamarino oversaw a large
growth in the science program, expanding the CAN research portfolio
from 11 grants in 2004 to 39 in 2006, and developed several important
autism initiatives, including the Neuropathology Workgroup, a collabo-
rative effort to understand the cellular and molecular basis of brain
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314 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
enlargement in autism, the first Environmental Innovator Award, and
research summit meetings on immunology and neuroimaging.
Eric Fombonne, M.D., is the head of the Division of Child Psychiatry at
McGill and director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Montreal
Children’s Hospital, where he has expanded autism services. He worked
at INSERM in France and at the London Institute of Psychiatry in Eng-
land, and he is now holder of a Canada Research Chair. He has been in-
volved in numerous epidemiological studies of autism and is considered
to be a leading authority on this topic, and also on the putative links be-
tween autism and immunization. He has also been involved in the devel-
opment of assessment tools for clinical and research purposes, in family
and genetic studies of autism, and in outcome studies. He has a long
track record of scientific/research leadership—including serving as a
consultant for the National Academies, the Centers for Diseases Control
and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, the MRC
(United Kingdom), and the M.I.N.D. Institute (University of California–
Davis)—on research matters related to autism. He has been associate
editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders since 1994
and is on the editorial board of several other scientific journals. He is on
the board of several family associations, with which he has worked
closely over the years.
Steve Hyman, M.D., is provost of Harvard University and professor of
neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. From 1996 to 2001, he served
as director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Earlier,
Dr. Hyman was professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, di-
rector of psychiatry research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH),
and the first faculty director of Harvard University’s Mind, Brain, and
Behavior Initiative. In the laboratory he studied the regulation of gene
expression by neurotransmitters, especially dopamine, and by drugs that
influence dopamine systems. This research was aimed at understanding
addiction and the action of therapeutic psychotropic drugs. Dr. Hyman is
a member of the IOM, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharma-
cology. He is editor-in-chief of the Annual Review of Neuroscience. He
has received awards for public service from the U.S. government and
from patient advocacy groups such as the National Alliance for the Men-
tally Ill and the National Mental Health Association. Dr. Hyman received
his B.A. from Yale College and an M.A. from the University of Cam-
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APPENDIX D
bridge, which he attended as a Mellon fellow studying the history and
philosophy of science. He earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical
School.
Judy Illes, Ph.D., is professor of neurology and Canada Research Chair
in Neuroethics, National Core for Neuroethics at the University of Brit-
ish Columbia. Dr. Illes received her doctorate in hearing and speech sci-
ences from Stanford University in 1987, with a specialization in
experimental neuropsychology. Dr. Illes returned to Stanford University
in 1991 to help build the research enterprise in imaging sciences in the
Department of Radiology. She also cofounded the Stanford Brain Re-
search Center (now the Neuroscience Institute at Stanford), and served as
its first executive director between 1998 and 2001. Today, Dr. Illes di-
rects a strong research team devoted to neuroethics, and issues specifi-
cally at the intersection of medical imaging and biomedical ethics. Dr.
Illes has written numerous books and edited volumes and articles. She is
the author of The Strategic Grant Seeker: Conceptualizing Fundable Re-
search in the Brain and Behavioral Sciences (1999, LEA Publishers,
NJ), special guest editor of “Emerging Ethical Challenges in MR Imag-
ing,” Topics of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (2002), and “Ethical Chal-
lenges in Advanced Neuroimaging,” Brain and Cognition (2002). Her
latest book, Neuroethics: Defining the Issues in Theory, Practice and
Policy, was published by Oxford University Press in January 2006. Dr.
Illes is co-chair of the Committee on Women in Neuroscience for the
Society for Neuroscience; a member of the Internal Advisory Board for
the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction of the Ca-
nadian Institutes of Health Research; and a member of the Dana Alliance
for Brain Initiatives.
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., is director of the National Institute of Mental
Health. He graduated from Boston University, where he received a B.A.
from the College of Liberal Arts and an M.D. He did his internship at
Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, MA, and his residency at the Lang-
ley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCSF. Dr. Insel joined NIMH in
1979, where he served in various scientific research positions until 1994,
when he went to Emory University as professor, Department of Psychia-
try, Emory University School of Medicine, and director of the Yerkes
Regional Primate Research Center. As director of Yerkes, Dr. Insel built
one of the nation’s leading HIV vaccine research programs. He also
served as the founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neurosci-
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316 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
ence, a Science and Technology Center funded by NSF to develop an
interdisciplinary consortium for research and education at eight Atlanta
colleges and universities. Dr. Insel’s scientific interests have ranged from
clinical studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder to explorations of the
molecular basis of social behaviors in rodents and nonhuman primates.
His research on oxytocin and affiliative behaviors helped to launch the
field of social neuroscience. He oversees NIMH’s $1.4 billion research
budget, which provides support to investigators at universities in the ar-
eas of basic science; clinical research, including large-scale trials of new
treatments; and studies on the organization and delivery of mental health
services.
David A. Schwartz, M.D., is the director of the National Institute of En-
vironmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Pro-
gram at NIH. Prior to this appointment, he served on the faculty at the
University of Iowa (1988–2000) and Duke University (2000–2005). At
Duke University, Dr. Schwartz served as the director of the Division of
Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and vice chair for re-
search in the Department of Medicine. In this capacity, Dr. Schwartz es-
tablished three NIH Centers: a center focusing on Environmental
Genomics, a Program Project in Environmental Asthma, and an Envi-
ronmental Health Sciences Research Center. Dr. Schwartz has focused
his research on the genetic and biological determinants of environmental
and occupational lung disease. These research efforts have provided new
insights into the pathophysiology and biology of asbestos-induced lung
disease, interstitial lung disease, environmental airway disease, and in-
nate immunity. This research has identified endotoxin or lipopolysaccha-
ride as an important cause of airway disease among those exposed to
organic dusts, and determined that a specific mutation in the Toll-4 gene
is associated with a diminished airway response to inhaled LPS in hu-
mans. Recent work is focusing on the genes that regulate the innate im-
mune response in humans, genes involved in the fibroproliferative
response in the lung, and the genetic regulation of environmental asthma.
Dr. Schwartz has served on numerous study sections and editorial
boards, is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation
and the Association of American Physicians, and was awarded the Scien-
tific Accomplishment Award from the American Thoracic Society in
2003.
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APPENDIX D
Alison Tepper Singer is executive vice president, awareness and com-
munications, for Autism Speaks. Ms. Singer has been with the founda-
tion since its launch in March 2005 and is a staff-liaison to the board of
directors, in addition to overseeing the strategic communications and
development of the growing organization. She served as interim CEO of
the organization from March through July 2005. Prior to joining Autism
Speaks, Ms. Singer spent 14 years at CNBC and NBC in a variety of po-
sitions. From 1994 to 1999, she served as vice president of programming
in NBC’s Cable and Business Development division. Most recently at
CNBC, in her role as special projects producer, Ms. Singer produced the
award-winning series “Autism: Paying the Price.” She has a B.A. in eco-
nomics from Yale University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business
School. Alison has a daughter and an older brother with autism.
Susan Swedo, M.D., received her B.A. from Augustana College and her
M.D. from Southern Illinois University. Shortly after completing a resi-
dency in pediatrics at Northwestern University, Dr. Swedo was named
chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at the university. The fol-
lowing year, she moved to Washington, DC, and became a senior staff
fellow in the Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH. Dr. Swedo was granted
tenure in 1992, became head of the Section on Behavioral Pediatrics in
1994, and chief of the Pediatrics and Developmental Neuropsychiatry
Branch in 1998. She also served as the acting scientific director for
NIMH from 1995 through 1998. Dr. Swedo recently received the Joel
Elkes International Research Award from the American College of Neu-
ropsychopharmacology. Her laboratory studies include childhood-onset
obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders, including Tourette
syndrome and Sydenham chorea.
Christian G. Zimmerman, M.D., FACS, M.B.A., is chair and founder
of the Idaho Neurological Institute (INI), adjunct professor of psychol-
ogy at Boise State University, past CEO of Neuroscience Associates, and
former board member for the Idaho State Board of Health and Welfare.
Dr. Zimmerman established the INI research facility to focus on nervous
system injury, repair, and neuroplasticity; leads its various interdiscipli-
nary research teams; and is coprofessor for biology and cognitive neuro-
science research students trained at the facility. Research projects include
a 20-year longitudinal study of traumatic brain injury; investigations of
spinal injury, stroke, aneurysms, arterial thrombolytic therapy interven-
tion, neuropathology, central nervous system (CNS) tumors, sleep disor-
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318 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
ders, deep-brain stimulation, and movement disorders; and five Tele-
medicine and Advanced Technologies Research Center (TATRC) grants.
In his role as INI chair, he has facilitated numerous symposia and work-
shops to provide educational opportunities for medical professionals and
the public. Additionally, he chairs prevention programs for Idaho’s youth
such as Think First. Dr. Zimmerman is a diplomate of the American
Board of Neurological Surgery and Pain Management and a fellow of the
American College of Surgeons and Physician Executives. He received
his M.B.A. from Auburn University, and his M.D. from the University of
Maryland.
FORUM MEMBERS
Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. (Chair), biography in Workshop Planning
Committee.
Huda Akil, Ph.D., is the Gardner Quarton Distinguished University Pro-
fessor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, and
the codirector of the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Akil has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the neu-
robiology of emotions, including pain, anxiety, depression, and substance
abuse. Early on, she focused on the role of the endorphins and their re-
ceptors in pain and stress responsiveness. Dr. Akil’s scientific contribu-
tions have been recognized with numerous honors and awards. These
include the Pacesetter Award from NIDA in 1993, and with Dr. Stanley
Watson, the Pasarow Award for Neuroscience Research in 1994. In
1998, she received the Sachar Award from Columbia University and the
Bristol Myers Squibb Unrestricted Research Funds Award. Dr. Akil is
past president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
(1998) and past president of the Society for Neuroscience (2004), the
largest neuroscience organization in the world. She was elected as a fel-
low of AAAS in 2000. In 1994, she was elected to be a member of the
IOM and is currently a member of its Council. In 2004, she was elected
to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Akil received her
Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Marc Barlow joined the strategic marketing group in GE Healthcare as
leader of the neuroscience area in 2005. In this role he is responsible for
the development and delivery of disease area strategies for CNS. Before
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APPENDIX D
joining GE Mr. Barlow was the marketing director of Sanofi-Aventis in
the United Kingdom. Prior to this he held a number of senior sales and
marketing positions within the pharmaceutical industry, both domesti-
cally in the United Kingdom and internationally based out of the United
States and Switzerland. A large amount of Mr. Barlow’s experience has
been in the neuroscience area, in particular in epilepsy, Alzheimer’s dis-
ease, and stroke. Mr. Barlow graduated from the University of Wolver-
hampton with a focus in biological sciences and the Chartered Institute
of Marketing with a diploma in marketing studies.
Dennis W. Choi, M.D., Ph.D., graduated from Harvard College and re-
ceived an M.D. and a Ph.D. (the latter in pharmacology) from Harvard
University and the Harvard–Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) Program in Health Sciences and Technology. After completing
residency and fellowship training in neurology at Harvard, he joined the
faculty at Stanford University and began research into the mechanisms
underlying pathological neuronal death. In 1991 he joined Washington
University Medical School as head of the Neurology Department; there
he also established the Center for the Study of Nervous System Injury,
and directed the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobi-
ology. From 2001 until 2006, he was executive vice president for neuro-
science at Merck Research Labs. Dr. Choi is currently executive director
of the Comprehensive Neurosciences Initiative at Emory University. He
is a fellow of AAAS, and a member of the IOM, the Executive Commit-
tee of the Dana Alliance for Brain Research Initiative, and the College of
Physicians of Philadelphia. He has served as president of the Society for
Neuroscience, vice president of the American Neurological Association,
and chair of the U.S./Canada Regional Committee of the International
Brain Research Organization. He has also served on the National Acad-
emy of Sciences’ Board on Life Sciences, and Councils for the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Society for Neurosci-
ence, the Winter Conference for Brain Research, the International Soci-
ety for Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, and the Neurotrauma
Society. He has been a member of advisory boards for the Christopher
Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the Hereditary Disease Foundation, the
Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, the Queen’s
Neuroscience Institute in Honolulu, and the U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
ministration (FDA), as well as for several university-based research con-
sortia, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical companies.
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320 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Timothy Coetzee, Ph.D., is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s
vice president for discovery partnerships. In this capacity, Dr. Coetzee is
responsible for the Society’s strategic funding of biotechnology and
pharmaceutical companies as well as partnerships with the financial and
business communities. Dr. Coetzee received his Ph.D. in molecular biol-
ogy from Albany Medical College and has been involved with multiple
sclerosis (MS) research since then. He was a research fellow in the labo-
ratory of society grantee Dr. Brian Popko at the University of North
Carolina–Chapel Hill, and was the recipient of one of the society’s Ad-
vanced Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards. After completing his training
with Dr. Popko, Dr. Coetzee joined the faculty of the Department of
Neuroscience at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine,
where he conducted research that applied new technologies to understand
how myelin is formed in the nervous system. He is the author of a num-
ber of research publications on the structure and function of myelin. Dr.
Coetzee joined the society Home Office staff in fall 2000.
David H. Cohen, Ph.D., is a professor of psychiatry and biological sci-
ences at Columbia University, where served as vice president and dean
of the faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1995 to 2003. Prior to joining
Columbia, he served as vice president for research and dean of the
graduate school and subsequently as provost at Northwestern University.
He has held professorships in physiology and/or neuroscience at North-
western, State University of New York (SUNY)–Stony Brook, Univer-
sity of Virginia School of Medicine, and Case Western University
School of Medicine. Dr. Cohen has held various elected offices in na-
tional and international organizations, including president of the Society
for Neuroscience and chair of the Association of American Medical Col-
leges. He has served on various boards, including Argonne National
Laboratory, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Zenith Electron-
ics, and Columbia University Press. He has also served on numerous ad-
visory committees for various organizations, including NIH, NSF,
Department of Defense, and National Academies. Dr. Cohen received
his B.A. from Harvard University and Ph.D. from the University of
California–Berkeley, and was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at University
of California–Los Angeles (UCLA).
Richard Frank, M.D., Ph.D., is the Vice President of Medical and
Clinical Strategy for GE Healthcare. He has two decades of experience
designing and implementing clinical trials in the pharmaceutical indus-
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APPENDIX D
try, and built the Experimental Medicine Department at Pharmacia be-
fore joining GE Healthcare in 2005. He is a past president and founding
director of the Society of Non-invasive Imaging in Drug Development
and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Royal College
of Physicians. He serves on the scientific review board for the Institute
for the Study of Aging and is a member of the editorial board of Molecu-
lar Imaging and Biology. Dr. Frank earned M.D. and Ph.D. (pharmacol-
ogy) degrees concurrently and joined the pharmaceutical industry upon
completion of his clinical training in 1985.
Richard Hodes, M.D., is the director of the National Institute of Aging
at NIH. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine.
In 1995 Dr. Hodes was elected as a member of the Dana Alliance for
Brain Initiatives; in 1997 he was elected as a fellow of AAAS; and in
1999 he was elected to membership in the IOM. He also maintains an
active involvement in research at NIH through his direction of the Im-
mune Regulation Section, a laboratory devoted to studying regulation of
the immune system, focused on cellular and molecular events that acti-
vate the immune response. In the past Dr. Hodes acted as a clinical in-
vestigator at the National Cancer Institute, then as the deputy chief and
acting chief of the Cancer Institute’s Immunology Branch. Since 1982 he
has served as program coordinator for the U.S.–Japan Cooperative Can-
cer Research Program, and since 1992 on the scientific advisory board of
the Cancer Research Institute. Dr. Hodes received his M.D. from Har-
vard Medical School. He completed a research fellowship at the Karolin-
ska Institute in Stockholm and clinical training in internal medicine at
Massachusetts General Hospital.
Steve Hyman, M.D., biography in Workshop Planning Committee.
Judy Illes, Ph.D., biography in Workshop Planning Committee.
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., biography in Workshop Planning Committee.
Story C. Landis, Ph.D., has been director of the National Institute for
Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) since 2003. Dr. Landis
oversees an annual budget of $1.5 billion and a staff of more than 900
scientists, physician-scientists, and administrators. The institute supports
research by investigators in public and private institutions across the
country, as well as by scientists working in its intramural laboratories
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332 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
S. Jill James, Ph.D., is a research biochemist with more than 25 years of
experience studying metabolic biomarkers of disease susceptibility. She
received her B.S. in biology from Mills College in Oakland, CA, and her
Ph.D. in nutritional biochemistry from UCLA. She is a professor in the
Department of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sci-
ences and director of the Autism Metabolic Genomics Laboratory at the
Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute. Before transferring to
the University, she was a senior research scientist at the FDA National
Center for Toxicological Research, where she directed a laboratory fo-
cused on DNA methylation and cancer susceptibility. Her research career
has been focused on defining gene–environment interactions that in-
crease susceptibility to cancer, Down syndrome, and most recently, au-
tism. She has published more than 120 peer-reviewed papers and
recently received the American Society for Nutritional Sciences award
for innovative research in the understanding of human nutrition.
Philip J. Landrigan, M.D., is a pediatrician, epidemiologist, and inter-
nationally recognized leader in public health and preventive medicine.
He has been a member of the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine
since 1985 and chair of the Department of Community and Preventive
Medicine since 1990. Dr. Landrigan graduated from Harvard Medical
School. In 1977, he received a Diploma of Industrial Health from the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He completed a resi-
dency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital. He then served for 15
years as an epidemic intelligence service officer and medical epidemi-
ologist at CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health. In 1987, Dr. Landrigan was elected as a member of the IOM. He
is editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and
previously was editor of Environmental Research. He has chaired com-
mittees at the National Academy of Sciences on Environmental Neuro-
toxicology and on Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. The
NAS report that he directed on pesticides and children’s health was in-
strumental in securing passage of the Food Quality Protection Act, the
major federal pesticide law in the United States. From 1995 to 1997, Dr.
Landrigan served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War
Veteran’s Illnesses. In 1997–1998, he served as senior advisor on chil-
dren’s health to the EPA administrator and was instrumental in helping
to establish a new Office of Children’s Health Protection at EPA. From
2000 to 2002, Dr. Landrigan served on the Armed Forces Epidemiologi-
cal Board. He served from 1996 to 2005 in the Medical Corps of the U.S.
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APPENDIX D
Naval Reserve. He continues to serve as deputy command surgeon gen-
eral of the New York Naval Militia. Dr. Landrigan is known for his
many decades of work in protecting children against environmental
threats to health, most notably lead and pesticides. He has been a leader
in developing the National Children’s Study, the largest study of chil-
dren’s health and the environment ever launched in the United States. He
has been centrally involved in the medical and epidemiologic studies that
followed the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11,
2001.
Pat Levitt, Ph.D., received his Ph.D. in neuroscience at the University
of California–San Diego. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in neu-
roscience at Yale University School of Medicine. He was named a
McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002. Dr. Levitt also is an elected fel-
low of AAAS and chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Cure Autism
Now. Dr. Levitt is a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives,
the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and the Na-
tional Advisory Mental Health Council for NIMH. Dr. Levitt’s research
interests are in the development of brain circuits that control learning and
emotion. His clinical genetics and basic research studies focus on under-
standing the basis of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders,
and how genes and the environment together influence typical and atypi-
cal development. He has received a number of research grants from NIH,
the McKnight Endowment Fund, the Joseph and Esther Klingenstein
Foundation, the March of Dimes, and other foundations. Dr. Levitt
serves on the editorial boards of Biological Psychiatry, Cerebral Cortex,
and Neuron, and he was senior editor for the Journal of Neuroscience.
He is the author or coauthor of more than170 scientific papers. Dr. Levitt
is a frequently invited speaker at national and international seminars and
conferences, as well as public education and policy forums that promote
the health and education of children.
Ian Lipkin, M.D., is professor of epidemiology in the Mailman School
of Public Health, and director of the Columbia Center for Infection and
Immunity. Through June 2002 Dr. Lipkin also held academic positions at
the University of California–Irvine. He is internationally recognized as
an authority on the use of molecular biological methods for pathogen
discovery and the role of immune and microbial factors in neurologic
and neuropsychiatric diseases. Dr. Lipkin received a B.A. from Sarah
Lawrence College, where he studied cultural anthropology, philosophy,
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334 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
and literature, and an M.D. from Rush Medical College. His postgraduate
training included clerkship at the Queen Square Institute of Neurology in
London; internship in medicine at the University of Pittsburgh; residency
in internal medicine at the University of Washington; residency in neu-
rology at UCSF; and fellowship in neurovirology and molecular neuro-
biology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. His honors
include National Multiple Sclerosis Society Postdoctoral Fellowship;
Clinical Investigator Development Award, NIH, National Institute of
Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke; Pew Scholar;
Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences; and Ellison Medical
Foundation Senior Scholar in Global Infectious Diseases.
Fernando D. Martinez, M.D., is director of the Arizona Respiratory
Center and Swift-McNear Professor of Pediatrics at the University of
Arizona in Tucson. His major research interests include the natural his-
tory of childhood asthma, the genetic epidemiology of asthma and re-
lated conditions, and the early development of the immune system as a
risk factor for the development of asthma. Dr. Martinez is the director of
one of five centers participating in the Childhood Asthma Research and
Education Network, a national effort funded by the National Heart,
Lung, and Blood Institute. He is also the recipient of two other current
NIH grants. Dr. Martinez is an associate editor of Thorax and is a re-
viewer for various journals, including Lancet, New England Journal of
Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, and European
Respiratory Journal. He has written more than 150 journal articles, book
chapters, editorials, and abstracts, and he has been an invited lecturer at
numerous national and international conferences. Dr. Martinez received a
medical license (equivalent to an M.D.) from the University of Chile in
Santiago. He then completed a medical degree and a fellowship in pedi-
atrics with a specialization in pulmonology at the University of Rome in
Rome, Italy.
Larry L. Needham, Ph.D., is chief of the Organic Analytical Toxicol-
ogy Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health, CDC. He
has served at CDC for more than 30 years in the area of assessing human
exposure to environmental chemicals through biomonitoring. Dr.
Needham has authored or coauthored about 400 publications in this area,
with special emphasis on polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, furans, and
biphenyls; pesticides; phthalates; perfluorinated chemicals; volatile or-
ganic chemicals; and inorganic elements. Dr. Needham has received
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APPENDIX D
many awards, including PHS’s Special Recognition and Superior Service
Award; CDC’s honor award for outstanding scientific leadership; and in
2006 the International Society of Exposure Analysis’s (ISEA’s) most
prestigious award, the Wesolowski Award, for his biomonitoring work.
Dr. Needham serves on advisory boards for many scientific organizations
and studies. In addition, he is a past president of ISEA, editor of Chemos-
phere: Dioxins and Persistent Organic Pollutants, and federal co-chair
of the exposure workgroup for planning for the National Children’s
Study. He is also the initial recipient of ISEA’s Distinguished Lecturer
Award.
Craig Newschaffer, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of
Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University School of Public
Health. Dr. Newschaffer recently joined the Drexel faculty, coming from
the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health. At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Newschaffer founded
and directed the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Epi-
demiology, one of five federally funded centers of excellence in autism
epidemiology. Major initiatives included the development of methods for
monitoring autism spectrum disorders prevalence and participation in the
largest population-based epidemiologic study of autism risk factors to
date: the National Centers for Autism and Developmental Disabilities
Research and Epidemiology (CADDRE) Study of Autism and Child De-
velopment. Dr. Newschaffer also is engaged in other projects focusing on
how particular genes might interact with environmental exposures to in-
crease autism risk. He recently began a collaboration with Peking Uni-
versity to explore approaches for conducting epidemiologic research on
autism in China. Dr. Newschaffer is an associate editor of the American
Journal of Epidemiology and a member of the editorial board of the jour-
nal Developmental Epidemiology.
Mark Noble, Ph.D., is a pioneering researcher in the field of stem cell
biology and CNS development. He was codiscoverer of the first progeni-
tor cell to be isolated from the CNS, the progenitor cell that gives rise to
myelin-forming oligodendrocytes. His laboratory then discovered cell–
cell interactions and specific mitogens that control the division of these
cells, along with conditions allowing greatly enhanced cell expansion in
vitro. These discoveries led to the first use of purified precursor cell
populations for repair of experimental CNS lesions. His laboratory also
discovered adult-specific populations of progenitor cells, and the team of
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336 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
researchers with whom he works has played a central role in the discov-
ery, isolation, and characterization of nearly all of the lineage-restricted
progenitor cell populations that have been isolated from the developing
CNS, characterized at the clonal level, and transplanted back into the
CNS. Dr. Noble’s current research is focused on developing a compre-
hensive approach to the field of stem cell medicine, research which in-
cludes topics such as identifying the optimal cells for enhancing repair of
spinal cord injury; the central importance of precursor cell dysfunction in
developmental maladies; and the discovery of molecular mechanisms
that underlie effects of environmentally relevant levels of chemically
diverse toxicants on CNS precursor cells and that integrate stem cell bi-
ology, redox biology, signaling pathway analysis, and toxicology into a
mechanistic framework. Dr. Noble is professor of genetics, neurobiol-
ogy, and anatomy at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and is
codirector of the New York State Center of Research Excellence for Spi-
nal Cord Injury.
Isaac Pessah, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Mo-
lecular Biosciences in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the
University of California–Davis. He is also director of the NIEHS/EPA
Children’s Center for Environmental Health and Disease Preven-
tion: Environmental Factors in the Etiology of Autism. Dr. Pessah is a
toxicologist with research interest in the area of molecular and cellular
mechanisms regulating signaling in excitable cells. His current research
focuses on the structure, function, and pharmacology of the ryanodine-
sensitive calcium channels (RyRs) found in sarcoplasmic and endoplas-
mic reticulum of muscle cells and neurons. His laboratory is actively
studying how dysfunction of RyRs complexes contribute to genetic dis-
eases and how genetic alteration of RyRs and environmental factors in-
teract to influence neurodevelopment by utilizing cellular, biochemical,
and molecular investigations of calcium-signaling pathways. He is a sen-
ior member of the NIEHS Center of Excellence in Toxicology and the
Superfund Basic Research Program.
William F. Raub, Ph.D., is science advisor to the secretary of Health
and Human Services and deputy assistant secretary for Public Health
Emergency Preparedness. Dr. Raub was acting assistant secretary for
Public Health Emergency Preparedness from 2003 to 2004, principal
deputy assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation from 2000 to
2002, acting assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation during 2001
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APPENDIX D
and again during 2003, and deputy assistant secretary for Science Policy
from 1995 to 2000. He was the science advisor to the EPA administrator
from 1992 to 1995 after a 1-year assignment as special assistant for
Health Affairs in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Execu-
tive Office of the President of the United States. Prior to that, he was the
deputy director of NIH from 1986 through 1991. From 1989 through
1991, he was the acting director, NIH. From 1978 to 1986, Dr. Raub
served first as associate director, and later deputy director, for Extramu-
ral Research and Training at NIH. He was associate director of the Na-
tional Eye Institute from 1975 to 1978 and chief of the Biotechnology
Resources Branch in the Division of Research Resources from 1969 to
1975. From 1966 through 1979, Dr. Raub led the development of the
PROPHET system, the first integrated array of computer-based tools for
the study of the relationships between molecular structures and biologi-
cal effects. Dr. Raub has received numerous awards from external or-
ganizations for his government service, including the Society of
Research Administrators’ Award for Distinguished Contribution to Re-
search Administration, the American Medical Association’s Nathan
Davis Award, and election as a fellow of the National Academy of Pub-
lic Administration. In addition, within DHHS, he has twice been pre-
sented the Distinguished Service Award and has received the Presidential
Meritorious Executive Rank Award and the Presidential Distinguished
Rank Award. Dr. Raub earned an A.B. in biology from Wilkes College
and a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Pennsylvania, where he
also was awarded an NSF graduate fellowship and was a fellow of the
Pennsylvania Plan.
Lyn Redwood, R.N., M.S.N., CRNP, is a nurse practitioner and has
worked in the nursing profession for 25 years specializing in pediatrics
and women’s health care. In the late 1990s, she became involved in au-
tism research when her son was diagnosed with pervasive developmental
disorder, not otherwise specified and found to be mercury toxic. Ms.
Redwood is coauthor of Autism: A Novel Form of Mercury Toxicity and
has testified before the Government Reform Committee on Mercury in
Medicine on the question: Are we taking unnecessary risks? As a writer
and researcher on autism and mercury toxicity, Ms. Redwood has been
published in Neurotoxicology, Medical Hypothesis, Molecular Psychia-
try, Mothering Magazine, and Autism-Aspergers Digest. She has also
appeared on “Good Morning America” with Diane Sawyer and has been
interviewed by U.S. News and World Report, Wired Magazine, and nu-
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merous other publications. Ms. Redwood is cofounder of the Coalition
for SafeMinds and was featured prominently in the book “Evidence of
Harm” by David Kirby.
Diana E. Schendel, Ph.D., is lead health scientist and epidemiology
team lead in the Developmental Disabilities Branch, National Center on
Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC. She serves as sci-
ence liaison for CDC’s CADDRE and is principal investigator for CDC’s
Georgia CADDRE study site. She coordinates scientific activities in
CADDRE, including the CADDRE multisite study of autism (Study to
Explore Early Development, or SEED), the largest epidemiologic study
of the causes of autism planned to date. She serves as science liaison and
CDC principal investigator for CDC’s Collaborative Public Health Re-
search Program in Denmark with the Danish Agency for Science, Tech-
nology and Innovation. Her professional research interests are in
developmental disabilities epidemiology. She has been recognized for
her work in autism (Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service [2005],
Autism Public Health Response Team, Secretary of Health and Human
Services; CDC and ATSDR Group Honor Award [2002]), Research Op-
erational, Autism Public Health Response Team) and cerebral palsy. She
is a member of the epidemiology subcommittee of the Scientific Advi-
sory Board of Autism Speaks and Scientific Advisory Board of the
European Autism Information System. She received a B.S. in both biol-
ogy and anthropology from Florida State University and an M.A. and a
Ph.D. in anthropology from Pennsylvania State University. She began
her career at Tufts University in the Department of Sociology and An-
thropology, then joined CDC’s Division of Birth Defects and Develop-
mental Disabilities as an epidemiologist.
David A. Schwartz, M.D., biography in Workshop Planning Committee.
Theodore A. Slotkin, Ph.D., received a Ph.D. in pharmacology and
toxicology from the University of Rochester. He has done extensive re-
search in the areas of developmental pharmacology and toxicology, neu-
ropharmacology and neurochemistry, and cell differentiation and growth
regulation. His research is aimed toward understanding the interaction of
drugs, hormones, and environmental factors with the developing organ-
ism, with particular emphasis on the fetal and neonatal nervous systems.
His most notable achievements concern the effects of fetal exposure to
drugs of abuse, especially tobacco and nicotine; drugs used in preterm
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APPENDIX D
labor; and neuroactive pesticides. He has received numerous honors and
awards for his research work, notably the Alton Ochsner Award Relating
Smoking and Health, the John J. Abel Award in Pharmacology, and the
Otto Krayer Award in Pharmacology, and has published more than 480
peer-reviewed articles. He has served on NIH Consensus Panels on
Pharmacotherapies for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy and on The
Use of Antenatal Steroids. He has chaired review boards for the Califor-
nia Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program, and he serves on the
editorial boards of three scholarly journals. He is among the 1 percent of
“Most Cited Scientists in Pharmacology & Toxicology” identified by the
Institute for Scientific Information.
Sarah Spence, M.D., Ph.D., is a board-certified pediatric neurologist
with a doctorate in neuropsychology and clinical and research expertise
in autism spectrum disorders. She received her Ph.D. in cognitive neuro-
science from UCLA in 1992 and her M.D. from UCSF in 1995. She
completed her medical training in pediatrics and neurology at UCLA in
2000 and a fellowship in neurobehavioral genetics in 2001 with Dr.
Daniel Geschwind while working with the Autism Genetic Resource Ex-
change (AGRE), a gene bank created by the Cure Autism Now founda-
tion. She then served on the UCLA medical school faculty, where she
was a member of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment, respon-
sible for overseeing research recruitment and assessment. She was medi-
cal director of the Autism Evaluation Clinic, with an active practice
specializing in children with autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Spence was
recently recruited to the Division of Intramural Research at NIMH,
where she is contributing to the design and administration of various
clinical research protocols examining the phenomenology of and novel
treatments for children with autism spectrum disorders. She continues to
work with community organizations as a neurological consultant to
AGRE, a member of the Treatment Advisory Board and Autism Treat-
ment Network steering committees for CAN, and the treatment subcom-
mittee of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Autism Speaks. Her
research interests include the role of epilepsy in autism, examination of
the autism phenome, clinical trials in novel treatments, and the genetics
of autism spectrum and related developmental disorders.
Ezra Susser, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Anna Cheskis Gelman and
Murray Charles Gelman Professor and chair of the Department of Epi-
demiology, and professor of psychiatry in the New York State Psychiat-
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340 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
ric Institute. His primary research has been on the epidemiology of men-
tal disorders and on examining the role of early life experience in health
and disease throughout the life course. His international collaborative
birth cohort research program (The Imprints Center) seeks to uncover the
causes of a broad range of disease and health outcomes, including psy-
chiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism, schizophrenia,
and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, among others. Among the
risk factors explored are prenatal exposures to infectious disease and
toxic chemicals, childhood nutrition and environment, and genetics, as
well as the interplay of genetic and environmental risk factors. Dr. Susser
has also focused on public health initiatives regarding HIV/AIDS
throughout his career, both locally and internationally.
Susan Swedo, M.D., biography in Workshop Planning Committee.
David R. Walt, Ph.D., is Robinson Professor of Chemistry at Tufts Uni-
versity and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor. He received a
B.S. in chemistry from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in chemi-
cal biology from SUNY–Stony Brook. After postdoctoral studies at MIT,
he joined the chemistry faculty at Tufts. He served as chemistry depart-
ment chair from 1989 to 1996. Dr. Walt serves on many government ad-
visory panels and boards and serves on the editorial advisory boards for
numerous journals. From 1996 to 2003, he was executive editor of Ap-
plied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. Dr. Walt is the scientific founder
and a director of Illumina, Inc. He has received numerous national and
international awards and honors and is a fellow of AAAS. Dr. Walt has
published over 200 papers, holds more than 40 patents, and has given
hundreds of invited scientific presentations.
Allen J. Wilcox, M.D., Ph.D., is a senior investigator in the Epidemiol-
ogy Branch of NIEHS, NIH, where he has worked since 1979. He was
chief of the Epidemiology Branch from 1991 to 2001, and since 2001 has
served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Epidemiology. He is past
president of the American Epidemiological Society, the Society for Epi-
demiologic Research, and the Society for Pediatric Epidemiologic Re-
search. He holds adjunct appointments as professor of epidemiology at
the University of North Carolina and the University of Bergen (Norway),
and has served on three IOM committees. He is a fellow in the American
College of Epidemiology. His research area is reproductive and perinatal
epidemiology, with special interest in early pregnancy, pregnancy loss,
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APPENDIX D
and fetal growth and development. His current research project is on the
genetic and environmental causes of cleft lip and cleft palate. He re-
ceived a B.A. in psychology and an M.D. from the University of Michi-
gan, and an M.P.H. in maternal and child health and a Ph.D. in
epidemiology from UNC–Chapel Hill.
STAFF
Bruce M. Altevogt, Ph.D., is a senior program officer in the Board
on Health Sciences Policy at the IOM. His primary interests focus on
policy issues related to basic research and preparedness for catastrophic
events. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Program in
Neuroscience. Following over 10 years of research, Dr. Altevogt joined
the National Academies as a science and technology policy fellow with
the Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellow-
ship Program. Since joining the Board on Health Sciences Policy, he
has been a program officer on multiple IOM studies including, Sleep
Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem, The
National Academies’ Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell
Research: 2007 Amendments, and Assessment of the NIOSH Head-and-
Face Anthropometric Survey of U.S. Respirator Users. He is currently
serving as the director of the Neuroscience and Nervous System Disor-
ders Forum and a co-study director on the National Academy of Sciences
Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee. He
received his B.A. from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville,
where he majored in biology and minored in South Asian studies.
Andrew Pope, Ph.D., is director of the Board on Health Sciences Policy
at the IOM. With a Ph.D. in physiology and biochemistry, his primary
interests focus on environmental and occupational influences on human
health. Dr. Pope’s previous research activities focused on the neuroendo-
crine and reproductive effects of various environmental substances on
food-producing animals. During his tenure at the National Academies
and since 1989 at the IOM, Dr. Pope has directed numerous studies; top-
ics include injury control, disability prevention, biological markers, neu-
rotoxicology, indoor allergens, and the enhancement of environmental
and occupational health content in medical and nursing school curricu-
lums. Most recently, Dr. Pope directed studies on NIH priority-setting
processes, organ procurement and transplantation policy, and the role of
science and technology in countering terrorism.
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342 AUTISM AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Sarah L. Hanson is a senior program associate in the Board on Health
Sciences Policy at the IOM. Ms. Hanson previously worked for the
Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research. She is currently the
senior program associate for the Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous
System Disorders. Prior to joining the IOM, she served as research and
program assistant at the National Research Center for Women & Fami-
lies. Ms. Hanson has a B.A. from the University of Kansas with a double
major in political science and international studies. She is currently
taking premedicine courses at the University of Maryland and hopes to
attend medical school in the future.
Afrah J. Ali is a senior program assistant for the Board on Health
Sciences Policy at the IOM. Earlier, she studied biology at Howard
University. Ms. Ali has 7 years of integrated project management, execu-
tive administration, publishing, event planning, research, and marketing
experience. Her previous positions include marketing specialist at Stan-
dard and Poor’s E-marketing division in New York City.
Lora K. Taylor is a senior program assistant for the Board on Health
Sciences Policy at the IOM. She has 15 years of experience working at
the National Academies. Before joining the IOM she served as the ad-
ministrative associate for the Report Review Committee and the Division
on Life Sciences’ Ocean Studies Board. Ms. Taylor has a B.A. from
Georgetown University with a double major in psychology and fine arts.
