Who We Are
University of North Carolina Team
Dr. Piven is a Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Pediatrics at UNC, and Director of the Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center. Dr. Piven has conducted research examining the neural and genetic basis of autism for over 15 years and serves as Principal Investigator of this study.
Morgan Parlier is the project coordinator for this study. She has worked with Dr. Piven's research team since 2003 on several family studies investigating the genetic underpinnings of autism. Currently, she is also coordinating a second NIH funded study utilizing fMRI technology to better understand the neural circuitry of social cognition in parents of individuals with autism.
Leslie Braddy graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a B.A. in Psychology. As an undergraduate Leslie began her research career in addictive substances and presented research at the national conference for the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy. Her career moved forward to work at the Duke Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research. Rejoining with her original passion for developmental research, Leslie is a part of our team as a Research Specialist involved in the Extended Family and BAP/fMRI studies.
Ashley Stevens graduated from The George Washington University in 2004 with a B.A. in Sociology and Human Services. She is a certified ABA therapist and has been working with individuals with autism for the past 3 years. Ashley is currently a research associate on the Extended Family Study of Autism and the BAP/fMRI Study.
Deanna Tracy graduated from the University of Michigan in 2008 with a B.A. in Honors Psychology. She has worked with individuals with autism for 5 years through therapy, respite work, camp, and school settings. She was previously involved in research at the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center (UMACC). Deanna is currently a Research Specialist on the Extended Family Study of Autism and the BAP/fMRI Studies.
Elisabeth Tyroler graduated from Guilford College with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Currently, she works as a research assistant for the Extended Family Study of Autism.
Meghan Vanasek graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 with a B.A. in Psychology. She has been working with individuals with autism for the past 3 years, working the UNC TEACCH program for two years. Meghan is currently a Research Assistant on the Extended Family Study of Autism and the BAP/fMRI Studies.
Scott Wallace provides recruitment and data management support for the Autism Research Project. After vowing to stay away from the medical world, he has previously supported the communications efforts of the American Association of Immunologists, Amgen, the Southern California Association of Clinical Oncologists, AMPAS (the Oscars people) and recently IBM.
Columbus Children's Research Institute Team
Veronica Vieland, Ph.D.
Dr. Vieland's focus is on the statistical and computational techniques that underlie human gene-mapping (localization of genes on the human genome), gene identification, and characterization of the genetic architecture of complex clinical phenotypes. Her research group has developed a novel class of quasi-Bayesian models, and much of their attention is devoted to ongoing expansion of the set of genetic features handled by the underlying likelihoods, together with evaluation of the efficacy of the models in the context of typical human data sets; the other arm of this work is the development of the high-performance computational approaches required for application of their statistical methods.
Dr. Vieland also collaborates actively on a number of clinical genetic studies. She has several funded projects focused on the genetics of autism, including, in addition to her own basic research, two projects in which her Center serves as the data coordinating site for large, international collaborations. Other projects in which she's currently involved are studying the genetics of cleft lip and palate, schizophrenia, autoimmune thyroid disease, systemic lupus erythmetosis, and congenital heart defects.
