What is Autism and what are the many ways in which they present? How do people with Autism and similar neurodevelopmental disorders age? Tune in to the Know Brainer Podcast this April, Autism Awareness Month, to delve deep into this critical topic and understand Autism from an evidence-based and research-driven perspective. Expert guests Dr. B. Blair Braden and Dr. Annie Cohen shed light on this topic that is intensely personal to many and deeply misunderstood in popular rhetoric. Using compelling evidence from longitudinal studies, we dive deep into the science and clinical implications of studying Autism, the challenges in identifying diagnostic and clinical biomarkers, and the path forward to meaningful interventions. Tune in to this topic that is both immensely personal and extremely informative. Over two episodes, Drs. Cohen and Braden will enlighten you about autism and the bridges we need to build between scientists and society.

Dr. Cohen is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is also the Director of the Neuroimaging Core of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the co-Director of the Molecular Biomarkers in Psychiatry Program. Dr. Cohen is also the lead of the recruitment team on the Alzheimer’s disease Biomarker Consortium- Down Syndrome (ABC-DS) and is the PI of multiple NIA funded studies focusing on neuroimaging in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Cohen earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh in 2006 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at UPMC in 2011. Dr. Cohen served as a steering committee member for the Neuroimaging Professional Interest area of the Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART) from 2015 to 2019 and is a member of the ISTAART advisory council. Her primary research interests focus on PET imaging to explore early detection of amyloid in Alzheimer’s disease using the amyloid imaging agent Pittsburgh-compound B and the relationship of social determinants of health to Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Dr. Cohen is co-leading the partnership core of the ACE study. She is also the mom to two fantastic kids.

Find more information through: https://www.reaact.pitt.edu/people/ann-d-cohen-phd⁠Dr. Blair Braden is a behavioral neuroscientist with expertise in neuroimaging and neuropsychology. Her roles at Arizona State University are Associate Professor in the College of Health Solutions, Program Director for the Speech and Hearing Science PhD, and Director of the Autism and Brain Aging Laboratory. Her research encompasses a multi-disciplinary program studying aging in autistic adults from basic science to translational treatment, factoring in the largely unexplored area of sex differences. Her research studies are among the first to 1) comprehensively describe age-related cognitive and brain changes in autistic adults, and 2) develop behaviorally and neurobiologically informed interventions for autistic adults across the lifespan. Her laboratory focuses mostly on cognitive compensation, mindfulness-based, and social strategy techniques. Find more information through: ⁠https://sites.google.com/asu.edu/autismandbrainaginglab/about-us?authuser=0⁠

Dr. Viswanathan is a neuroscientist, author, and artist. She earned an engineering degree, a Master’s in neuroscience, and a Doctorate in cognitive neuroscience. After her post-doctoral fellowship, she deepened her neuroscientific expertise as a contractor at the NIH. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the IUSM working in translational neuroscience to prevent and treat AD/ADRD. She illustrated and wrote a children’s neuroscience book, Baby Senses: A Sensory Neuroscience Primer for All Ages to convey complex scientific concepts through art and whimsy. Tune into her projects through which she disseminates science via ⁠https://babysensesbook.com/⁠.