In the News | MacART

Autism Care

Research

Education

Community

Policy

Research

“Future research needs to focus not only on the biological markers of autism but also include data about functioning, participation, and environmental barriers and facilitators.”

Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo // Developmental Pediatrician

MacART is laying the foundation for creating a systematic way of linking scientific research on autism at McMaster University to clinical practice at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

The physical proximity of McMaster Children’s Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, and McMaster University has a number of characteristics that provides the rare opportunity for collaborative research. Taking advantage of existing university and clinical infrastructure and cross-appointments for clinicians at the university, autism experts from these organizations are coming together to integrate autism research into clinical practice.

The focus of MacART members’ research is in the areas of basic science, clinical practice, clinical research, epidemiology and statistical modelling, knowledge translation and exchange, and social science research. By promoting the collaboration of stakeholders across disciplines, MacART is reducing barriers to implementing research in clinical practice, with the goal of advancing autism care through meaningful research.

Learn more about our research HERE.

Education

MacART members are now supervising more than 50 research trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, and are engaged in the mentoring of junior and intermediate faculty members.

In the future, we intend to establish research and clinical training programs for students in McMaster’s undergraduate medical, health sciences, and psychology programs, and for residents and fellows in Pediatrics and Psychiatry.

By training and mentoring emerging researchers and practitioners, we will help to solidify their understanding of and commitment to using basic science to inform their clinical practice, and to use their clinical experience to help formulate research questions. It is our belief that involving these learners in MacART educational activities will promote their use of practices that advance autism care through meaningful research.

Community

“Our scientists are working collaboratively with local clinicians to generate the evidence needed to improve autism services. This symposium is a great example of McMaster’s community engagement efforts.”

Dr. Patrick Deane // President & Vice-Chancellor // McMaster University

The community engagement component of MacART strives to work with stakeholders and involve them as partners in every step of the research process. By doing so, the questions that drive research begin to change. They become more meaningful because they address the real day-to-day challenges faced by children and their families, and the clinicians supporting them.

MacART aims to increase participation and involvement of members of the McMaster and Hamilton communities in the research process. With community members driving the research, new and relevant knowledge can be produced to bridge the research-to-practice gap in autism and advance autism care through meaningful research.

Policy

“People whose lives are connected to the challenge of autism can share knowledge – from clinicians to educators to parents – and what an amazing opportunity that is. We have a real opportunity to translate challenges into research, and research into practice that will help families living with autism.”

Rob MacIsaac // President & CEO // Hamilton Health Sciences

Policies should be created using the best available evidence that make positive impacts on the lives of Autistic individuals, along with their families.

MacART’s founder, Stelios Georgiades, serves on both federal and provincial advisory committees about autism supports/service funding. Along with the wide-ranging expertise of its many autism experts, MacART is set to act as a highly credible source of evidence-based information to influence and inform public policy about the provision and funding of autism diagnosis, services, and family supports.

MacART will continue to find ways to collaborate with policymakers to both learn more about the policymaking process, and to contribute our expertise and knowledge to inform policymaking, in order to advance autism care through meaningful research.

MacART members at POND Science Day

December 7, 2017

Various MacART members were on hand at POND Science Day on November 30^th – a workshop to share recent findings, network with colleagues, and help set the research agenda for the project’s renewal.

Jane Foster gave an overview of mouse work that looks at how microbiota and the immune system influence brain structure and behaviour. Some key points include:

MRI analysis of germ-free mice lacking exposure to all microbes revealed global changes in brain structure that are not restored if reconstituted in early adolescence.
Gene-environment interactions influence the composition of gut microbiota - the Foster lab is working to determine how these interactions influence brain regions that regulate social behaviour.
Gene-environment interactions influence the composition of gut microbiota - the Foster lab has identified specific gut bacteria that influence anxiety-like behaviour in mice.

Jane also gave an update on the immunophenotyping platform for POND. Four sites are now collecting blood samples to examine inflammatory markers and immune cells in peripheral blood. This work will help identify biological differences in individuals with neurodevelopment disorders.

It is exciting to see such cutting-edge research being done by our members!

MacART member recognitions

December 7, 2017

Recently two MacART members were recognized for their various achievements.

Congratulations to Dr. Peter Rosenbaum for receiving the 2017 Canadian Association of Paediatric Health Centre (CAPHC) Award for Individual Leadership. This annual award was created to recognize outstanding leadership by an individual who has dedicated their career to making a difference in the health and well-being of children, youth and families in Canada. The award specifically recognizes creativity and initiative to promote positive change and long-term improvement.

Peter also recently was honoured at the Canadian Friends of Haifa University's Mount Carmel Dinner, with the Carmel Award of Merit in recognition of his lifetime achievements in childhood disabilities research.

Also, Dr. Ronit Mesterman received the Leadership Award at the 2017 Ontario Association of Children's Rehabilitation Services (OACRS) Conference. The Leadership Award recognizes outstanding leadership in innovation, system integration and/or furthering family-centred care. Ronit’s work with PONDA – Physicians of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Advocacy – was recognized.

Congratulations on these prestigious honours!

SAAAC Inaugural Conference

December 6, 2017

On Friday March 2nd, 2018, one of MacART's collaborators, the South Asian Autism Awareness Centre (SAAAC), will be holding its inaugural conference. Entitled "Culture Counts - Culturally Responsive Autism Support in Research and Practices", this event will focus on the important and timely issue of how to provide effective ASD supports to a rapidly changing multicultural population. The list of speakers will include MacART's co-director, Dr. Stelios Georgiades. For further information, please see the Culture Counts Conference website.

Dr. Stelios Georgiades presenting at the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists Autism Conference

MacART Co-Director on “Collaboration Across the Spectrum”

October 31, 2017

On Friday October 20^th 2017, the Ontario Association of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (OSLA) hosted its first Autism Conference, with the theme of “Collaboration Across the Spectrum and Across the Age Span”. MacART Co-Director Dr. Stelios Georgiades was invited to give the keynote presentation, entitled “Tracing Autism’s Trajectories Can Help Explain Its Diversity”.

Dr. Georgiades’ program of research investigates development trajectories in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Presenting findings from his research studies, such as the Pathways in ASD Study, Dr. Georgiades discussed how children with ASD have different strengths and challenges that vary across domains and over time, and that models of care should reflect that dynamic variability. Further fitting in with the day’s theme, he also discussed the need for interdisciplinary collaboration through strategic partnerships and funding. One example of such teamwork is the upcoming Pediatric Autism Research Collaborative (PARC) Project, a partnership between researchers and clinicians in embedding a research protocol into clinical practice.

The day’s other presentations included discussions on early interventions, collaboration between professionals, agencies, and parents, and building strong partnerships, along with remarks from the Minister of Education, Mitzie Hunter. The OSLA Autism Conference was a wonderful example of how through strong, strategic, interdisciplinary collaborations, autism care can be enhanced.

MacART 2nd annual autism research stakeholder symposium

September 18, 2017

MacART held its 2nd annual symposium on Friday, September 15th, 2017 at McMaster Innovation Park. This year’s symposium theme was “Rethinking Autism Training” and our keynote speaker was Dr. Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, Co-Director of the Autism Research Centre in Edmonton, Alberta and leader of the national Autism Research Training Program. This year’s theme was a topic ripe for innovation, and is sure to produce excellent discussions leading to the identification of stakeholder priorities related to autism training!

With 250 stakeholders joining us, both the venue and the agenda were packed! We were pleased to welcome speakers from our stakeholder organizations (Autism Ontario, Autism Speaks, CASDA), local school boards, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, and many of our supporters from McMaster and Hamilton Health Sciences. We were also very excited to have group breakout sessions led by Dr. Sean Park (McMaster University Faculty of Health Sciences), a leader in design thinking methodology. We will be using the feedback generated in these breakout sessions to create a 'training manifesto' to determine ways we can towards improving autism services, supports, and training through collaboration and innovation.

Thank you very much to all of our supporters, speakers, attendees, and volunteers for a successful day. Stay tuned for the videos and reports that will come from this exciting event!

Summer students - 2017

July 28, 2017

This summer the McMaster Autism Research Team was pleased to host 3 summer students, each from different backgrounds, and provide them with experience in the world of research. These bright and capable students showed great initiative and willingness to help with whatever tasks were thrown their way – we truly appreciate the help they provided us over the past few weeks!

Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee worked with us in 2015, as a recipient of a Hamilton Health Sciences Health Research Bursary Award for graduating high school students. At that time she worked on the Pathways in ASD study - a longitudinal study following up on children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Sandra has since been accepted into the Bachelor of Health Sciences program at McMaster, and this year was the recipient of a BHSc Summer Research Scholarship. This scholarship program contributes funds for BHSc (Honours) students to pursue summer research opportunities at McMaster University with a faculty member. Her faculty research supervisor was MacART co-director Dr. Stelios Georgiades.

We were happy to have her back with us! This summer Sandra supported us on a wide range of tasks, including data checking and scanning for various studies, developing promotional materials, conducting literature reviews, questionnaire development and pilot testing, supporting the planning of our MacART research stakeholder symposium, and more. It was a very busy summer, particularly with preparing for the rollout of the Pediatric Autism Research Collaborative (PARC) Project, but Sandra took on the many tasks given to her with ease and aplomb!

Ahsas Nagee

MacART participated once again in the Hamilton Health Sciences Health Research Bursary Awards Program for graduating high school students, and this year we hosted Ahsas Nagee. Ahsas is a graduate of the IB program at Michael Power/St. Joseph High School in Etobicoke. He will be attending the Medical Sciences program at Western University this fall, hoping to pursue a career in medicine and healthcare research.

During his time with MacART this summer, Ahsas has computerized patient surveys and conducted a literature review for the Pediatric Autism Research Collaborative (PARC) Project, which aims to build a standardized research protocol that caters to the needs of families dealing with autism. Ahsas has also worked with the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health model to evaluate the measures used in the PARC Project. He has learned extensively about research not only in neurodevelopmental disorders, but the state of scientific research in general while also gaining invaluable skills in the field.

Rukaiyah Lakkadghatwala

Rukaiyah Lakkadghatwala is a first-year medical student at Queen's School of Medicine, who has an interest in gender studies and the social determinants of health. She has a passion and considerable experience working with children (as a support worker for children and youth with intellectual disabilities, a tutor for children and youth at community shelters, a leader of a Girl Guide unit, and an Ontario Early Years Centre volunteer), and recognizes the many factors that impact wellness. She contacted the Offord Centre for Child Studies searching for volunteer experiences to strengthen her knowledge of the social determinants of health and was put in touch with our ASD team, who are interested in similar issues.

This summer Rukaiyah has helped MacART with developing presentation materials, conducting literature reviews, drafting an evaluation plan, questionnaire development and pilot testing, supporting the planning of our MacART research stakeholder symposium, and more. Together with Ahsas, she is also using the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health model to evaluate the measures used in the PARC Project. Rukaiyah was eager and willing to take on all the tasks given to her, and we appreciate her efforts to volunteer her time with us!

A Collaborative Approach to Autism Research

July 18, 2017

Following the launch of the new Ontario Autism Program, MacART has begun the Pediatric Autism Research Collaborative (PARC) Project. The aim of the Ontario Autism Program is to ensure child and youth ASD services are delivered consistently across the province, while the PARC Project is working to develop a research protocol that can be embedded into the delivery of these services.

"We’re excited to have researchers and clinicians working together in a collaborative way,” says Dr. Caroline Roncadin, clinical director of ASD services at the MCH Ron Joyce Children’s Health Centre. “The PARC Project will have the potential to produce research findings that can directly inform the clinical care we provide families.”

To read more about the PARC Project, please see our story in HHS Share.

The new Ontario Autism Program and the PARC Project

June 26, 2017

Today, June 26^th, is the start date for the new Ontario Autism Program. The province has worked closely with families, caregivers, advocates, clinicians and providers to build the new OAP.

Some key features of the OAP include:

A single point of access.
Family-centred decision-making.
Collaborative approach to service.
Service based on need.

More information on the OAP can be found here: http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/specialneeds/autism/ontario-autism-program.aspx

As this new program rolls out, this also marks the beginning of MacART’s new pilot research project – the Pediatric Autism Research Collaborative (PARC) Project. Together with our local team of clinicians, we are working together to establish an ASD Research Protocol that can be embedded into clinical practice and allow for the ongoing collection of data on all children who receive an ASD diagnosis in our region.

MacART is excited to begin this important work to not only improve our understanding of ASD, but also to improve the individual treatment and clinical care that children receive.

New autism program coming to Ontario

June 8, 2017

Today the province of Ontario announced its new autism program, set to begin on June 26^th 2017. The announcement was made by Michael Coteau, Minister of Children and Youth Services – more information can be found here: https://news.ontario.ca/mcys/en/2017/06/ontario-transforming-autism-services-for-children-and-their-families.html

MacART is encouraged to see that input from the autism community has been taken into account to help the Ontario government move towards a refined system of care for children and families affected by autism.

MacART Trainee Travel Awards RFA - 2017

May 29, 2017

The McMaster Autism Research Team (MacART) is pleased to announce a Request for Applications for trainee travel awards!

The MacART Trainee Travel Awards are meant to help trainees working in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) research to travel to events that will enhance their research training experience. This may include traveling to a conference or workshop, presenting their research at an event, attending a course, or visiting a research lab in order to learn from a researcher.

Criteria for applicants: This RFA is open to students and trainees of all levels (e.g. undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral fellow, medical resident, etc.) whose work is related to Autism Spectrum Disorders, as long as they are affiliated with McMaster, Hamilton Health Sciences, or MacART in some way. Only one award per trainee will be provided.

Value: Maximum $500 per individual. The award covers registration fees, accommodation, transportation costs, etc.; expenses such as meals and entertainment costs are not eligible.

Deadline for application: Friday June 30^th, 2017.

Application process: Please submit the application form, describing the following:

Trainee contact information
Details of the travel - location, dates, purpose, etc.
Award amount requested, and for what (i.e. itemization of expenses).
What do you hope to learn from this experience?
How will this travel help to impact/advance ASD care and research?

Submit this form to autism@mcmaster.ca as one PDF document.

A review committee will evaluate the applications based on the following criteria:

Overall strength of the applicant’s learning objectives.
Overall significance of the learning experience to ASD care and research.

Winners will be announced at our 2^nd annual MacART Research Stakeholder Symposium, to be held on Friday September 15^th, 2017.

If you have any questions, please contact Anna Kata, MacART Research Coordinator at autism@mcmaster.ca.