Combining The Foundation’s interest in scientific research and learning disabilities, The Simons Foundation embarked on a new initiative at the end of Fiscal Year 2003. On June 11, 2003, The Simons Foundation hosted its first Panel on Autism Research at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. The Panel was a day-long event dedicated to discussion of how new ground may be broken in research into the causes of autism, the accurate genomic mapping of autism, and in the study of the biochemical mechanisms that occur in people with autism.
Distinguished attendees representing top minds in the fields of epidemiology, neuroscience, psychiatry, and autism research specifically, included David Amaral (UC-Davis), Dr. Eric Courchesne (UCSD), Susan Folstein, M.D. (NEMC), Dr. Nathaniel Heinz (Rockefeller), Tom Insel, M.D. (NIMH), W. Ian Lipkin, M.D. (Columbia), Catherine Lord, Ph.D. (Michigan), Dr. John Niblack (Pfizer), and Dr. Fred Volkmar (Yale). The panel was chaired by Nobel Prize winning laureate Dr. Paul Greengard (Rockefeller). The event, organized by Dr. Rod Nichols, the former executive director of the New York Academy of Sciences, also included invited guests Harry and Laura Slatkin (NY Center for Autism), and Jim and Marilyn Simons.
The Panel was highly informative and productive for all. Some very exciting grant making proposals came forward following the meeting and these proposals will represent a major initiative in the upcoming fiscal year.
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