MacART at Offord Centre Research Day – 2024

On April 4, 2024, Offord Centre Research Day was held at McMaster Innovation Park in Hamilton, Ontario. This inaugural internal event was dedicated to research, reflection, and reconnection at the Offord Centre. The day united Offord Centre members and research staff, as well as students who have worked with the supervision of Offord Centre members, to engage in a day full of learning, inspiration, and collaboration.

Many MacART members are also Offord Centre core members, so there was a significant MacART presence at Offord Centre Research Day! Our members were thrilled for this opportunity to share about our ongoing and recent research, uplift our academic learners in disseminating their research findings, and to engage in important conversations about child health. Two of our MacART members, Drs. Magdalena Janus and Terry Bennett, gave the opening keynote presentation! It was a powerful and emotional retrospective about Dr. Dan Offord, which truly set the tone for the day.

The following presentations include MacART members as contributors and/or supervisors (with the online program available HERE):

KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS:

Towards a civic society and equitable opportunities for children – Dan Offord, man and legacy

ORAL PRESENTATIONS:

Investigation of Educational Outcomes, Developmental Health, and Regional Policy Differences for Young Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Canada

Post-Doctoral Fellow Panel

Moderation

POSTER PRESENTATIONS:

Many of our MacART members had a variety of work on display supporting their students and research staff. Here are the autism-related projects listed below: (you can see all poster presenters and titles under the ‘Posters’ tab in the online program HERE.)

Bot-ched Data: Dealing with Bots and Bad Actors in Online Autism Research

  • By Samantha Rutherford (undergrad student), supervised by MacART trainee Dr. Mackenzie Salt and ASD Team/Offord Centre colleague Alessia Greco

From Initial Concerns to Formal Diagnosis: Exploring the Pre-Diagnosis Pathways of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Children

The Pediatric Autism Research Cohort (PARC) Study: Examining Trajectories of Functioning in Autistic Children in Canada

Exploring convergent and discriminant validity between the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale and the Autism Impact Measure in Autistic children

Associations between Parent-Reported Environmental Supportiveness and Sensory Processing in Autistic Children

We also want to acknowledge the multifaceted works our MacART members have supported, which have a broader focus beyond just autism! Those are listed below:

Creating a Pediatric Learning Health System for Neurodevelopment

  • By Alessia Greco & Dr. Elyse Rosa (research staff), supervised by MacART Co-Director/Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades

Evaluation of virtual care services offered to children across Ontario

Literature Review on Disability Representation in Disney and Pixar Animated Films

Teacher-reported prevalence of FASD in 2016 to 2020 in kindergarten in Canada and its associations with neighbourhood-level socioeconomic status and home problems

RESEARCH DAY HIGHLIGHTS:

Group photo with MacART members and Offord Centre’s ASD Team members (some folks are members of both!)
The Offord Centre Research Day round table spreads. There are copies of the 2023 Offord Centre Research Impact Report, as well as a pad of stickies, folders, and Offord-branded sour gummies!
MacART member Dr. Magdalena Janus stands at the podium to deliver the opening keynote sharing about Dr. Dan Offord, the Founder of the Offord Centre, and his legacy. The title reads, “Towards a civic society and equitable opportunities for children – Dan Offord, man and legacy”.
Dr. Stelios Georgiades, MacART Co-Director/Founder & Director of the Offord Centre, takes the stage to give some opening remarks. Stelios moderated the events throughout the day!
Nicole Rob, MacART Co-Director/Co-Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades’ undergraduate thesis student, presenting her poster titled, “From Initial Concerns to Formal Diagnosis: Exploring the Pre-Diagnosis Pathways of Newly Diagnosed Autistic Children”.
Christopher Smolej, MacART Co-Director/Co-Founder Dr. Stelios Georgiades and MacART trainee Dr. Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen’s undergraduate thesis student, presenting his poster titled, “Associations between Parent-Reported Environmental Supportiveness and Sensory Processing in Autistic Children”.
MacART trainee Dr. Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen and Offord Centre’s ASD Team research staff member Ellen Cole engaging together with Ellen’s poster titled, “Exploring Convergent and Discriminant Validity Between the Behavioral Inflexibility Scale and the Autism Impact Measure in Autistic Children”.
The Post-Doctoral Fellow panel, including MacART trainees Drs. Mackenzie Salt and Yun-Ju (Claire) Chen!
A group photo with MacART members Dr. Kathy Georgiades (leftmost), Dr. Magdalena Janus (3rd from the left), Dr. Terry Bennett (3rd from the right), and Dr. Stelios Georgiades (rightmost), as well as Offord Centre colleagues Dr. Melissa Kimber (2nd from the left), and Dr. Harriet MacMillan (2nd from the right)!
A big Offord Centre group photo! Lots of smiling faces in the crowd. Thank you to the organizers for this wonderful event! MacART can’t wait for the next!
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