Shafali Jeste
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Dr. Jeste is a behavioral child neurologist specializing in autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. She is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Neurology and Pediatrics in the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, the director of the UCLA CARING Clinic and the director of the biomarkers core of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART). Dr. Jeste’s research is focused on developing methods to improve our precision in the diagnosis and treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders through the application of brain based biomarkers and more targeted developmental phenotyping. Her lab studies neurodevelopmental disorders from early infancy through late childhood, with a focus on syndromic forms of autism. Dr. Jeste designed innovative studies in early predictors of autism in Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) that integrate biomarkers with behavior to define atypical development prior to the onset of clinical symptoms of autism. Her work in TSC has led to the first randomized controlled clinical trial of behavioral intervention in infants with TSC. Dr. Jeste is the PI of an Autism Center of Excellence study of high risk infants, the PI of an IDDRC study of biomarkers in Dup15q syndrome, and the UCLA site PI of The Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials (ABC-CT) which is multi-site NIH research study focused on identifying brain based biomarkers in autism. Dr. Jeste’s research is directly inspired by her clinical work, and she directs multidisciplinary clinic for children/adults with suspected or identified genetic etiologies associated with their neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Jeste holds many national and international leadership positions including the Board of Directors of the American Brain Foundation and the Board of Directors of the International Society for Autism Research. She was recently elected to serve as the next chair of the International Baby Siblings Research Consortium. She also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Child Neurology Edition of AAN Continuum. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Department of Defense, the Dup15q Alliance, and Roche pharmaceuticals.
