University Holds Historic Autism Summit

The New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence Coordinating Center at Montclair State University in September held “The Unfolding Story of Autism Research in New Jersey: From Cells to Society,” the first-ever statewide summit on autism.

Parents and families, educators, care providers, researchers and policymakers attended the daylong summit that featured 16 of the clinical research programs funded under the New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence (NJ ACE) by the Governor’s Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism within the Department of Health. Designated as the NJ ACE Coordinating Center at Montclair State University (CC-MSU) and housed at the University’s Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health, the CC-MSU provides support, assistance and oversight to more than 24 NJ ACE-funded projects.

“Autism is not a disorder of behavior, but a difference in structure, functioning and processing of the human brain,” said Dr. Gerard Costa, director of the University’s Center for Autism and Early Childhood Mental Health and principal investigator of the NJ ACE Coordinating Center. “New Jersey has taken leadership in supporting the most talented researchers to better understand the nature of autism spectrum disorder. This summit was the first statewide presentation of some of the exciting research being conducted under the NJ ACE umbrella.”