2009 Speaker Bios
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Mental Health
Thomas R. Insel, M.D., is Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the component of the National Institutes of Health charged with generating the knowledge needed to understand, treat, and prevent mental disorders. His tenure at NIMH has been distinguished by groundbreaking findings in the areas of practical clinical trials, autism research, and the role of genetics in mental illnesses.
Prior to his appointment as NIMH Director in the Fall 2002, Dr. Insel was Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University. There, he was founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, one of the largest science and technology centers funded by the National Science Foundation and, concurrently, director of an NIH-funded Center for Autism Research. From 1994 to 1999, he was Director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta. While at Emory, Dr. Insel continued the line of research he had initiated at NIMH studying the neurobiology of complex social behaviors. He has published over 250 scientific articles and four books, including the Neurobiology of Parental Care (with Michael Numan) in 2003.
Dr. Insel has served on numerous academic, scientific, and professional committees and boards. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and is a recipient of several awards including the Outstanding Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Insel graduated from the combined B.A.-M.D. program at Boston University in 1974. He did his internship at Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his residency at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California, San Francisco
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Dr. Bennett L. Leventhal, MD, Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU Langone Medical Center and the NYU Child Study Center as well as the Deputy Director of the of the NY State Office of Mental Health’s Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.
Dr. Leventhal received his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, and completed his child and adolescent psychiatry training at Duke University, serving there as chief resident and junior faculty member. Following two years as a medical officer at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia, Dr. Leventhal joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago; there he served as Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics and, as Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for more than two decades. He remains the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Emeritus, at the University of Chicago. He was also a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Child Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience at the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois. Dr. Leventhal is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Leventhal has years of distinguished service to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and, recently received a medal on the occasion of the Academy’s 50th anniversary recognizing him as one of the major contributors to the field of child and adolescent psychiatry in the past half century. Among his many other awards and honors is the National Board of Medical Examiners Edith Levitt Award for Distinguished Service. Dr. Leventhal has played a leadership role in national and regional efforts to promote children’s mental health research and to create comprehensive, cutting-edge systems of care for children’s mental health. These efforts include membership on the Board of The Northwestern University Child and Family Justice Center and, Directorship of the State of Illinois Autism Project. He is also highly regarded more broadly in the field of medicine as a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Illinois State Medical Board. Dr. Leventhal is an internationally-renowned child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is widely recognized for his leadership and expertise in fostering scientific career development, training, and broad-based collaborative research networks that span from molecular genetics to community service and public health. His direction and vision have led to the creation of outstanding clinical research programs that have developed and shaped scientific approaches to the study of early emerging childhood disorders. These include the Laboratory of Developmental Neuroscience, directed by Edwin H. Cook, Jr., M.D., and the Program on Developmental Mechanisms of Psychopathology, directed by Lauren S. Wakschlag, Ph.D. His extraordinary talent at fostering career development and, the passion he conveys about the importance of children’s mental health research, have been largely responsible for launching the careers of countless distinguished clinical scientists, around the country and around the world. He is a powerful advocate for children’s mental health and has greatly enhanced the lives of children and families through his exceptional devotion to clinical care and his broad-based influence on policy and practice. Dr. Leventhal’s work has included innovative initiatives to advance translational research on the causes and prevention of mental disorders in children and adolescents, focusing on disruptions in brain development that interfere with social functioning, including the molecular genetics of autism and the prenatal origins of disruptive behavior disorders. His wide-ranging scientific contributions are reflected in his current efforts to develop an international network of basic and clinical scientists designed to elucidate the origins of mental disorders in the first years of life as well as research programs in pediatric psychopharmacology, bullying, school-based prevention, epidemiology and the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism
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Rhea Paul, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Professor Emerita at Southern Connecticut State University, and Professor and Director of the Communication Disorders Section of the Developmental Disabilities program at the Yale Child Study Center.
She received her B.A. from Brandeis University in 1971, her Master’s degree in Reading and Learning Disabilities from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1974 and her Ph.D. in Communication Disorders from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1981. She is author of over 70 refereed journal articles, 30 book chapters and seven books. She has been Principal Investigator on research projects on language disorders and autism funded by the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Child Health and Development, the National Alliance for Autism Research, the Meyer Memorial Trust, and the Oregon Medical Foundation. She is currently engaged in five-year research program funded by a Mid-Career Development Award from the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, and is a Principal Investigator at the Yale Autism Center of Excellence. Dr. Paul has participated in a variety of expert panels and boards for the Connecticut and Oregon State Departments of Education, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health. She has served as Vice President of both the Oregon and Connecticut State Speech-Language-Hearing Associations, and is currently President of the Connecticut Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Winner of the National 1996 Editor’s Award of the AJSLP, Dr. Paul is a Fellow of ASHA.
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Dr. Michael Powers, Phd is a pediatric psychologist and the Director of The Center for Children with Special Needs in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
He specializes in the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of individuals with autism and related developmental disabilities. Dr. Powers holds an appointment as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University. He is the author of the new book Asperger Syndrome and Your Child (HarperCollins, 2002) and editor of the award-winning book Children with Autism: A Parents’ Guide, (second edition) (Woodbine House, 2000). Dr. Powers is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on autism, and has presented extensively throughout the United States and abroad. He is a member of the Professional Advisory Board of the Asperger Syndrome Coalition of the United States and former member of the Board of Directors of the Autism Society of America.
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Alison Tepper Singer is Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation.
Singer was formerly Executive Vice President of Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization. In 2007, she was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) where she played a key role in developing the new federal strategic plan for autism research. She has appeared on Oprah, The Apprentice, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show and many other news programs discussing autism research and other autism-related issues. Prior to joining Autism Speaks, Ms. Singer spent 14 years as a producer at NBC and CNBC. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. She has a daughter and an older brother with autism. She serves on many boards of autism-related organizations.
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Regina Sullivan, Ph.D., is a Research Professor at the NYU Child Study Center and a Developmental Behavioral Neurobiologist in the Emotional Brain Institute (EBI) the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.
Dr. Sullivan's research interests include understanding the neurobiology of infant attachment to the caregiver and the impact of attachment quality on cognitive and emotional development. Dr. Sullivan received her Ph.D. in Biopsychology from The City University of New York. She completed post-doctoral training at Duke University and The University of California. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, Dr. Sullivan was Co-Director of The Neurobehavioral Institute at The University of Oklahoma. Visiting academic positions at Universite Pierre & Marie Curie and Universite Claude Bernard in France and Kochi Medical School in Japan. Dr. Sullivan is the author of over 90 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and other professional publications. She is a frequent lecturer on the neurobiology of attachment with presentation in the US, Europe, Asia and South America. Her service includes membership on the NIH Mental Health Council on Neurodevelopment, NIH Blueprint, NIH Scientific Review Charter member, and President of both The International Society for Developmental Psychobiology and the Society for Neuroscience Oklahoma Chapter.
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Ashura Williams Buckley, MD
Clinical Fellow, Pediatrics & Developmental Neurosciences Branch, National Institute of Mental Health - http://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml
Dr. Ashura Williams Buckley, MD is a board certified child neurologist, fellowship trained in sleep medicine. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, her MD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and completed her training in child neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 2006, Dr. Buckley has been a Research Clinical Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health studying dysregulated sleep patterns in autism. Her work focuses on the normal developmental trajectory of sleep architecture and how abnormal sleep patterns in autism may reflect underlying disorders in neurotransmission. She has participated in many clinical protocols and is the Prinicipal Investigator of an ongoing novel intervention for abnormal sleep architecture in young children with autism being conducted at the NIH. She also holds a Research Assistant Professorship at the Child Study Center at NYU.
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