Shoba S. Meera, Ph.D.

Shoba S. Meera, Ph.D., is a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore, India. She is passionate about clinical work and is part of a multidisciplinary team that works with autistic children and their families. She has had an excellent research career so far, with several significant grants and two major fellowships: the Fulbright Nehru Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and the India Alliance DBT Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellowship in Clinical and Public Health. Funding from the latter fellowship has helped her establish her lab, the Infant-Toddler Language Development and Intervention Lab (LiL’). Research in her lab focuses on the potential benefits of a caregiver-mediated early intervention called LiL’ STEPS for infant-toddlers at an elevated likelihood for autism. The lab also explores various methods for the remote delivery of intervention, early caregiver speech input and language development, gesture development, and bilingual language development.

Chongying Wang, Ph.D.

Chongying Wang, DPhil, BCBA-D, is the Founding Director of the Autism Research Center and Professor of Clinical Psychology at Nankai University in China. She obtained her doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Oxford, UK, and was a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University, USA, and a visiting scholar at the Olga Tennison Autism Research Center (OTARC) at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Her research focuses on early identification, social-cognitive development, and implementing evidence-based interventions for people with autism. She received the INSAR Cultural Diversity Research Award in 2021. Dr. Wang has also served as the INSAR Global Senior Leader for China since 2000 and for Western Pacific Region since 2024.

Jonathan Safer, Ph.D.

Jonathan Safer-Lichtenstein is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus and licensed bilingual psychologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado. He has spent the past 10 years in working with children with autism, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental conditions. His clinical and research interests include increasing access to intervention and assessment services for low-income families (including specifically Spanish-speaking families) and executive functioning intervention.

Amy Esler, Ph.D., LP

Amy Esler, Professor, Department of Pediatrics is a licensed psychologist and researcher at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain at the University of Minnesota. She completed her PhD in school psychology from the University of Minnesota. Her clinical interests include diagnosis and characterization of autism and related diagnoses and care and support of individuals with profound autism, fragile X, and other rare genetic conditions. Her research focuses on effective interventions for aggression and self-injury, improving equitable access to care, and measurement of behaviors and characteristics for tracking growth and change in development. Dr. Esler is an international trainer on diagnostic measures for autism, including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition and Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised.

Cecilia Montiel-Nava, Ph.D.

Dr. Cecilia Montiel-Nava, a bilingual clinical psychologist, holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV), an M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola University Maryland, and a B.A. in Psychology from the Universidad Rafael Urdaneta (Venezuela).

Dr. Montiel-Nava’s research focuses on five topics: (1) understanding ethnic disparities among children with autism spectrum and neurodevelopmental disorders, (2) ADHD and its comorbid disorders, (3) evidence-based interventions that can be carried out by parents of children with developmental delays in underserved populations, (4) validity and acculturation of diagnostic instruments, and (5) bilingualism and autism. Her research has as the ultimate goal to reduce the gap in access to services that identify and treat neurodevelopmental disorders to improve the quality of life of RGV residents.

Imene Zoulikha Kassous

Imene Zoulikha Kassous, MS is a doctoral candidate in education at the University of Glasgow School of Education. She has a Master’s Degree in Language and Communication from the University of Abdelhamid Ibn Badis, in Algeria. Ms. Kassous’ research interests include autism spectrum disorder, inclusive education, and disability studies. Her Ph.D. work has been focused on inclusive education for children with ASD in Algeria. As a student researcher, Ms. Kassous will provide a diverse perspective on the work and initiatives currently undertaken by the Cultural Diversity Committee. Ms. Kassous was also a recipient of the INSAR Research Internship in Autism and Cultural Diversity.

Sadaf Khawar, Ph.D.

Sadaf Khawar is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sadaf is a board-certified behavior analyst with a PhD in clinical psychology who has extensive experience in conducting neuropsychological evaluations and delivering evidence-based interventions to neurodiverse individuals in a variety of home, school, and mental health settings across the United States. In addition to her clinical work, Sadaf is seeking to explore barriers to autism diagnosis and treatment access, as well as disparities in service use, in underrepresented groups through her research. She is also particularly vested in community based participatory research methods as it promotes stakeholder engagement and recruitment from diverse groups.

Sandra Vanegas, Ph.D.

Sandra Vanegas, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Texas State University. She completed a MS in Human Development and Early Childhood Disorders from the University of Texas at Dallas, a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Loyola University Chicago, and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on identifying and addressing disparities that affect racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically diverse children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Currently, Dr. Vanegas is conducting a randomized clinical trial of a culturally-informed, parent-mediated intervention, ASD Screening and Parent Engagement (ASPEN) Intervention Program with families of young children with ASD who reside in low-resource households. Other research projects include examining the role of diverse language experiences (i.e., bilingualism, dual language learning) on the development of children with ASD, ADHD, and Down Syndrome and disparities that affect the health of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The central aim of her research is to develop culturally informed educational and clinical practices that will ameliorate disparities affecting children and families from underserved communities.

Ashlee Yates Flanagan, Ph.D.

Dr. Yates Flanagan is a licensed psychologist and research psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Center for Autism Research (CAR). Dr. Yates Flanagan earned her master’s degree in counseling from New York University (NYU) and earned her doctorate in School Psychology from Tulane University. Dr. Yates Flanagan is a research collaborator across studies at CAR, CHOP’s PolicyLab, and University of Pennsylvania’s LifeSpan Brain Institute (LiBI), specifically utilizing her more than 10 years of qualitative expertise to lead qualitative and mixed methods studies that make meaning of cultural perspectives and experiences within autism and mothering practices, from the voice of Black caregivers. She incorporates her clinical training in autism into her research expertise, culminating in a focused program of research.

Tally Tafla, Ph.D.

Dr. Tafla is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at University of São Paulo, with Professor Elizabeth Shephard, investigating camouflaging in Brazilian autistic adults. She has a PhD in Human Development Sciences, Master's in Developmental Disorders, and Bachelor's in Psychology from Mackenzie Presbyterian University (UPM). She completed a six-months-PhD program at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK). She was a member of the ANPEPP Working Group "Autism Spectrum Disorders: Research in Health and Education", a Fellow of the Helmut Remschmidt Research Seminar (HRRS) 2023 and a member of IACAPAP (International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions). She is also a member of the Brazilian Institute of Psychological Assessment (IBAP). She has interest in researching cultural differences in autism, particularly focusing on Latin American countries. .

Dr. Vibian Angwenyi

Dr. Vibian Angwenyi, is an Assistant Professor at the Aga Khan University, Institute for Human Development. She supports with implementing research on early child development, with a focus on parenting interventions and childhood disabilities, applying mixed-methods research and implementation science. She currently serves as the Nairobi-based project coordinator for NIHR funded multi-country research SPARK (Supporting African Communities to improve the resilience and mental health of children with developmental disabilities and their caregivers in Ethiopia and Kenya). The SPARK study aims to improve early identification, referral, and linkage of children with developmental disorders, including autism, in the community. SPARK research further seeks to evaluate the (cost) effectiveness of the WHO caregivers skills training delivered by non-specialist facilitators in diverse context through a cluster-randomised trial – see (https://www.thesparkproject.net/).

Dr. Angwenyi holds a joint-doctorate degree in Global Health from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Barcelona Institute for Global Health (Spain), and the Institute for Tropical Medicine (Antwerp-Belgium); a master’s degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK); and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Moi University, Kenya.

Ifrah Abdullahi, Ph.D.

Dr Ifrah Abdullahi is a Research Fellow at the Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre and the Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre, La Trobe University. She holds a PhD in Medicine from The University of Western Australia, where her research examined the health and developmental outcomes of children from immigrant and minority backgrounds. A culturally responsive academic with strong ties to immigrant and refugee communities across Australia, Dr Abdullahi combines expertise in clinical medicine, paediatrics, public health, and psychology to advance understanding of autism and intellectual disability in culturally and racially marginalised communities. Clinically, she is a senior epidemiologist specialising in perinatal and paediatric health, with expertise in population-based data linkage, early diagnosis, and intervention. She is also an early-career research leader, an award-winning science communicator, and a dedicated advocate for children from immigrant, minority, and refugee backgrounds.

Tigist Zerihun Kebede, Ph.D.

Dr Tigist Zerihun Kebede is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa Ethiopia. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree and Specialty certificate from Addis Ababa University and completed subspecialty training in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Her clinical and research interests focus on the diagnosis and intervention of autism spectrum disorder, rare genetic conditions, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She is committed to improving care and support for individuals with these conditions and their caregivers. 

She is a passionate advocate for equitable and accessible care, with a particular emphasis on serving low-income settings.