George Baroff | Dr. Prabjyot Malhi | Dr. Usha Grover | V.R.P. Sheilaja Rao | Dr. Gregory F. Aloia | Rangasamy Ramasamy | Dr. Jayanthi Narayan | Sudha Kaul | Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy | Dr. K. VijayRaghavan | Dr. John Stone | Mr. Akhil S Paul | Cecilie MacKinnon | Dr. Asish Kumar Mukherjee | Dr. Flora Tassone | Randi Hagerman | Dr. Sumantra Chattarji | Shalini Kedia | Ms. Reena Bhandari | Dr.V.Viswanathan | Mythily Chari | Maj. Gen. Ian Cardozo (Retd.) | Dr. Shariqua Yunus | Dr. Nandini Mundkur | J. P. Gadkari | Dr. Patricia Champion |
Randi Hagerman
Randi Hagerman, M.D., is a Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician and Endowed Chair in Fragile X Research at the University of California at Davis, Medical Center. She is also the Medical Director of the M.I.N.D. Institute, which stands for Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. She is an internationally recognized clinician and researcher in developmental and behavioral pediatrics and her area of expertise is fragile X syndrome. She has spent over 20 years doing clinical work and research regarding this syndrome, particularly, in molecular clinical correlations and treatment endeavors. She has written several books on fragile X syndrome, including a third edition of Fragile X Syndrome: Diagnosis, Treatment and Research, which was published in 2002 by Johns Hopkins University Press. She also wrote Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment (1999 - Oxford University Press), which covers a broad array of disorders that impact cognitive development and behavior, and documents multidisciplinary interventions including medical, psychopharmacological and educational treatments. Dr. Hagerman co-founded the National Fragile X Foundation in Denver, Colorado, in 1984; and, presently, is on the Board and the Scientific and Clinical Advisory Committee of the National Fragile X Foundation. She is also a scientific adviser to the Conquer Fragile X Foundation; and, she is on the Advisory Board of both the Northern and the Southern California Fragile X Associations.
Dr. Sumantra Chattarji
Dr. Sumantra Chattarji, Associate Professor, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bangalore also holds position of visiting scientist at RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA. His research interests include Neuronal correlates of stress, depression, and anxiety disorders.Mental retardation, autism spectrum disorders Mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in the amygdala and hippocampus.Synaptic and moelcular mechanisms of learning & memory. Computational neuroscience. He was recently in media news for the discovery of a mechanism for reversing symptoms of mental retardation and autism. He has received several awards and fellowships and has been invited to deliver lectures at several International symposiums.
Shalini Kedia
Shalini Kedia, heads the Fragile X Society of India. Fragile X is a family of genetic conditions which can impact individuals and families in various ways. In her own understanding of Fragile X she realized the ignorance on this subject and took up the mission of dispelling it. She set up the society with help from the National Fragile X Foundation- USA. She keeps herself abreast with all the latest developments. Earlier this year the Fragile X Society of India organized an international conference and it proved to be a turning point for Fragile X in India.
Ms. Reena Bhandari
Ms. Reena Bhandari, is presently the project director of Voice and Vision, India prior to which she was the Principal of the Deaf-Blind Section of Helen Keller Institute, Mumbai.
She has represented her organization in several international and national conferences. She has been involved in formulating the curriculum for teachers' training for the DeafBlind in India and is a member of the committee set up by the Rehabilitation Council of India. She has interest in early education units for deafblind children.
Dr. V. Viswanathan
Dr. V. Viswanathan, is a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, Kanchi Kamakoti Childs Trust Hospital and Sundaram Medical Foundation, Chennai. He did his graduation from Chennai and then went over to the United Kingdom and wherein he trained and qualified as a Paediatric Neurologist and returned to India. He is a member of the International Child Neurology Association and the British Paediatric Neurology Association besides the Neurological Society of India, Indian Academy of Neurology, Indian Academy of Paediatrics and the Indian Epilepsy Association. His main areas of interest are neuromuscular disorders and epilepsies in children, He is the principal investigator for the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) and is currently involved in studies on Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He is also the principal investigator for an international multi-center study on refractory pediatric epilepsy. He has publications and presentations in both International and National journals / symposia.
Mythily Chari
Mythily Chari, holds a Masters Degree in Education and Education Specialist degree from University of Florida(UF),USA and has been working in India since 1988. She is the founder trustee of Commandur Foundation is a not for profit Public Charitable Trust registered vide Registration Number 509/IV/2005. The Foundation runs two institutions namely; Institute for Remedial Intervention Services (IRIS) and Institute for Promotion of Occupational Health and Safety in Construction (IPOHSIC).
Mythily has been holding innumerable training programs for parents and professionals on various aspects, the website www.autismindia lists all the activities taken up and is updated from time to time. She is a well respected leader in the field and has a pan-Indian presence. She is an expert member in the Rehabilitation Council of India. She has represented India in the World Congress on Autism held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2006.
Based on clinical work numbering nearly 300 children(families) she published a book Autism Diagnosis and After, the first book to be written on this subject in India. The book is dedicated to parents and families caring for children with autism. The review of the book has appeared in the Journal Book Review, Oct, 2005, New Delhi. The Telugu translation of the book is complete awaiting publication subject to sponsorship.
Her second book, 'Education of Children with Autism in Regular Schools', meant as a resource for teachers; regular and special, is under way.
Mythily is a Rotarian, her specialization being Rehabilitation of the special child.
