 Aspasia Stacey Rabba (AUSTRALIA)
Monash University & Monash HealthIn her clinical role, Dr. Stacey oversees an adult autism service within Victoria's largest public health institution. Collaborating with psychiatrists, allied health professionals, and those with lived experience, she ensures a comprehensive approach to assessing autism within a transdiagnostic framework. Her focus extends to empowering mental health clinicians to better recognize and address autism in adulthood, advocating for inclusive mental health practices. As a researcher and lecturer, her work delves into neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly autism and ADHD, and their intersection with mental health. She also explores cultural influences on various aspects of wellbeing, including school engagement, family and parent wellbeing; and more broadly resilience and belonging. In her teaching role, she imparts clinical interventions and systemic knowledge to postgraduate psychology students, integrating academic insights with practical experience and emphasizing the importance of lifelong learning.  Chimei Lee (USA)
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Clinical Behavioral Neuroscience, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesDr. Chimei Lee is pediatric neuropsychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, USA. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Eastern Michigan University and completed her pre-doctoral psychology internship at the Henry Ford Health Sciences Center in Detroit, Michigan, USA, with a specific emphasis on pediatric neuropsychology. She completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota, USA, where she also received specialized training in ASD and neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Lee's research focuses on neurocognitive and behavioral development in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related conditions. She is interested in how genetic and environmental variables affect risk and resilience in these populations. She is also involved in translational research for serving individuals with ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders and their families with diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In her clinical work, Dr. Lee specializes in assessment and intervention for children with ASD and other neurodevelopmental disabilities. She also conducts neuropsychological evaluations and consultations for children with complex medical conditions, genetic abnormality, as well as a variety of other neurodevelopmental and social-emotional challenges. Dr. Lee is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), the International Neuropsychological Society (INS), the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), and the Minnesota Psychological Association (MPA)  Oscar Wong (CHINA)
Department of Psychiatry, The Chinese University of Hong KongAfter obtaining his medical degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 2010, Oscar underwent training as a psychiatrist. His dedication led to the conferment of the Fellowship of the Hong Kong College of Psychiatrists in 2017, specializing in both adult psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. Transitioning to academia, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at CUHK in 2019. With a keen interest in child and adolescent psychiatry, he currently leads a significant prospective study on gut microbiota in autistic children. His lab endeavors to unravel the mechanistic pathways of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in autism, with the ultimate goal of developing innovative diagnostic tools and therapeutics. Beyond this, he delves into understanding the phenomenon of co-occurring psychiatric conditions and explores neurocognitive functions in autism as prognostic markers. Additionally, he is the lead inventor of two mobile phone applications designed to provide mindfulness training and skills transfer, aimed at empowering and supporting parents' mental health in Hong Kong. Aishworiya Ramkumar (SINGAPORE)
National University HospitalAishworiya is a developmental behavioral pediatrician practicing at the Child Development Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore. Graduating with her undergraduate medical degree in 2009, she completed her pediatrics residency and subsequent fellowship training at the same hospital. Furthering her expertise, she undertook fellowship training in Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the UC Davis Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) institute in the USA in 2022. Her clinical focus lies in autism spectrum disorder and socio-emotional difficulties in children, demonstrating a steadfast dedication to serving this population. Within her clinical practice, she assesses and manages children with developmental delays and difficulties across various spectrums, including those on the autism spectrum.  Harshini Manohar (INDIA)
National Institue of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS)Harshini is a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist and a clinician-researcher with a specific focus on early intervention for children with autism. Having completed her residency in Psychiatry and subspecialty training in child and adolescent Psychiatry from prestigious institutes of national importance in India, she brings a wealth of expertise to her field. Her current role as an assistant professor affords her extensive opportunities for clinical work, teaching residents in postgraduate and subspecialty programs, and focused research. As a teaching faculty in a tertiary care referral center, she plays a vital role as one of the interdisciplinary professionals catering to the assessment and management of complex neurodevelopmental disorders. This includes diagnostic assessments, management of comorbid mental health conditions, liaison for neurological and genetic evaluation, addressing parental mental health concerns, and facilitating support. Her research in autism spans various areas, including early intervention for preschool children using naturalistic developmental and behavioral interventions framework, comorbidity in ASD, understanding family and stakeholder experiences through qualitative methodologies, non-invasive brain stimulation targeting restricted and repetitive behaviors, tele-assessments for diagnostic outcomes, transdiagnostic phenotypes such as OCD and RRBs, developmental regression, and population-level estimates focusing on ASD through the Global Disease Burden collaborators network (yet to begin). Yaqiong Xiao (CHINA)
Shenzhen Institute of NeuroscienceWith a Ph.D. in Psychology from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences/Leipzig University in 2017, Xiao embarked on a journey of research and academia. Over the subsequent four years, she delved deep into social interaction and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research during her postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of California, San Diego. Currently, her dedication lies in advancing our comprehension of the neural mechanisms underpinning ASD and related developmental disorders. Her research is centered on investigating the functional and structural bases that contribute to language and social deficits in children with ASD, employing multimodal neuroimaging techniques such as MRI, EEG/ERP, and fNIRS. Furthermore, her work extends to developing targeted interventions tailored for individuals with ASD and language impairments.  Tzu-Ling Lin (TAIWAN)
Institute of Behavioral Medicine, National Cheng Kung UniversityHaving earned a PhD in clinical psychology from National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan in 2019, Lin holds the position of assistant professor at the Institute of Behavioral Medicine at National Cheng Kung University in Tainan, Taiwan, a role she has fulfilled since 2022. With a clinical psychology license in Taiwan since 2003, she has been providing early assessments and interventions for children with developmental delays, particularly those with ASD. Her professional interests revolve around evidence-based interventions for children with ASD and their families, with a focus on adapting these interventions to the medical and community settings in Taiwan. Certified as an Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) trainer, she conducts research on its effectiveness in medical settings in Taipei. Currently, her research efforts are twofold. Firstly, she is conducting further research on the effectiveness of ESDM in Tainan. Secondly, she collaborates with other disciplines, such as Computer Science and Information Engineering, to develop a social-emotional training VR program and assess its effectiveness.  Salam Salloum-Asfar (QATAR)
Qatar Biomedical Research InstituteSalam earned her Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Pharmacy from Valencia University, Spain. She holds two Master's degrees, one in Hematology and Oncology from Murcia University, Spain, and another in Education and Pedagogy for Professors from Miguel Hernandez University, Spain. Her international Ph.D. in Pharmacogenomics, Hematology, and Oncology was awarded by the University of Murcia, where she received the Extraordinary Doctorate Award in 2015. Her research delved into the regulation by miRNAs and SNPs, exploring their role in interindividual variability and implications for hemostatic disorders. She has conducted research as a visiting scholar at esteemed laboratories including the Einthoven Laboratory for Experimental Vascular Medicine, LUMC, Leiden (The Netherlands), where she gained experience in in vivo siRNA experimentation, and at the Research Centre for Energy, Environment Technology, Madrid, where she contributed to CRISPR-Cas9-related projects. She was honored with a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Society of Hematology and Hemotherapy for the period of 2016-2018. She commenced her tenure at Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) in April 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher. Her current research focuses on various projects related to autism spectrum disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders (ADHD), aiming to identify the developmental origins of ASD through stem cell generation, cerebral organoids and neuronal cultures, as well as early biomarker discovery.  Maria Soledad Burrone (CHILE)
University of O'HigginsMaría Soledad is a Medical Doctor, with a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Medicine (2017), with training in biostatistics, epidemiology, and quali-quantitative research. She has experience in epidemiological and public health research, with a focus on community mental health.
Soledad has been involved in teaching and academic activities as part of undergraduate courses and postgraduate specialties, masters, and doctoral programs. To date, she has published more than 55 articles. Also, she is a co-author of 10 book chapters and more than 145 presentations at national and international scientific conferences.
Currently, she is a Professor at the Institute of Health Sciences, University of O'Higgins, Chile. Her research focuses on community approaches to promote the social inclusion of autistic people and populations with several mental disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder). She has participated in several research projects in Latin America and her work blends quantitative and qualitative methods, health disparities research, community engagement, and implementation science.
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