CENE
Hispano-American Brain Bank
CENE Nodes/Sites
California - United States
Dr. Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño is an investigator at Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento, and a professor in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, Davis. The goal of Dr. Martínez-Cerdeño's laboratory is to determine the etiology and the pathology of some forms of autism. In addition, she studies the role of stem cells in the development, evolution, and pathogenesis of the mammalian cerebral cortex. She studies the anatomy and pathology of autism and related diseases in post-mortem brains and based on her findings she develops animal models for autism research. Animal model mimicking findings in human provide an excellent tool to generate and test new treatment for different kinds of autism.
Randi Hagerman, M.D., FAAP, is a Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California Davis Medical Center and Director of the Fragile X Research and Treatment Program at the MIND Institute and holds an Endowed Chair in Fragile X Research. Dr. Hagerman is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and has studied patients with fragile X syndrome (FXS), autism, and other neurodevelopmental disorders. She has carried out numerous targeted treatment studies in FXS and autism. She and her husband and team have published extensively regarding fragile X premutation disorders including the first description of FXTAS in 2001. She co-founded the National Fragile X Foundation in 1984 and has been involved in targeted treatments for fragile X syndrome, autism, and FXTAS for several years. Dr Hagerman has written over 400 peer-reviewed articles and several books on fragile X and autism.
Dr. Hagerman's publications and academic activities
Pennsylvania - United States
Dr. Julia Kofler is an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and she is the Director of the adult and pediatric neurodegenerative brain bank (Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, ALS, movement disorders, traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, leukodystrophies). She is also the Director of the neurohistology laboratory and co-director and neuropathology core leader of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC)
Dr. Carla Mazefsky is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and a licensed clinical psychologist. She is an internationally recognized expert in autism, especially as it relates to emotion regulation and co-occurring mental health conditions. Her research takes a lifespan approach and includes both those with autism who are severely affected (e.g., nonverbal, have intellectual disability, and severe challenging behavior) and those who are verbal with average or better cognitive ability. Her primary emphasis is clinical research, including measure and treatment development. She developed the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) which is now in use in more than a dozen countries and across the US in clinical and research settings. Dr. Mazefsky also co-authored the first emotion regulation intervention for adolescents and adults with autism called the Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE) Program.
Mexico
Dr. José Luna-Muñoz is the Director of the National Brainbank of Dementia, México (BND). He is a Scientific Researcher and Faculty at the School of Superior Studies (Facultad de Estudios Superiores), at the National Autónoma University of México (UNAM) in Cuautitlán (UNAM). He is also a Scientific Advisor for the Alzheimer IberoAmerica Foundation (Fundación Familiares de Alzheimer Aguascalientes), México.
Dr. Luna-Muñoz's publications and academic activities
Dr. Lilia Albores is a Physician graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, UNAM, with a specialty in Psychiatry and a subspecialty in Child Psychiatry. She obtained a Doctorate in Psychology and Health at UNAM and a Post doctorate in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Saint Louis Missouri. She is certified by the Mexican Council of Psychiatry and the Mexican Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is currently the Head of Research in Clinical and Community Genetic Epidemiology at the Dr. Juan N. Navarro Children's Psychiatric Hospital, which belongs to the Mexican Ministry of Health. She has the distinction as a National Researcher SNI Level 1 of the National System of Researchers CONACYT. She is the founder of the organization PROCEDDA: Certified Professionals in the Diagnosis and Detection of Autism, and he is a Founding Member of the Mexican Autism Consortium and the International Consortium for the Study of Autism. She is the Clinical Director of the Mexican Node of the Hispano-American Brain Bank for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CENE). She has received National and International awards for her contributions in the field of Autism Research.
Dr. Albores's publications and academic activities
Dominica
Dr. José Luna-Muñoz is the Director of the National Brainbank of Dementia, México (BND). He is a Scientific Researcher and Faculty at the School of Superior Studies (Facultad de Estudios Superiores), at the National Autónoma University of México (UNAM) in Cuautitlán (UNAM). He is also a Scientific Advisor for the Alzheimer IberoAmerica and Foundation (Fundación Familiares de Alzheimer Aguascalientes), México.
Dr. José Luna-Muñoz's publications and academic activities
Dr. Ana Yris Silvestre Sosa is a Physician and Psychiatrist who specializes in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She works in the detection, management and surveillance of mental illnesses.
Dr. Sosa's publications and academic activities
Dr. Mar Pacheco-Herrero is a Researcher, Professor, and Coordinator of the Research Unit of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM), Dominican Republic. She is also the Founder of the first research group to study neurodegenerative diseases in the Dominican Republic and the Neuroscience Research Laboratory Director. She is an international advisor to the National Dementia BioBank, Mexico. Dr. Pacheco's research group focuses on the study of the molecular processing of proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases, mainly Alzheimer's and other dementias, and the search for risk factors and specific biomarkers.
Dr. Pacheco-Herrero's publications and academic activities
Puerto Rico
Dr. Amaya Miquelajauregui is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences Campus.
Dr. Miquelajauregui's publications and academic activities
Colombia
Dr. Efraín Buriticá is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Morphology in the School of Basic Sciences at the Universidad del Valle. He is also a researcher at the Center for Brain Studies at the Universidad del Valle. Dr. Buriticá's research group has two main objectives: 1. To determine the neuronal organization of the human prefrontal cortex and its variations in neuropsychiatric pathologies and 2. To determine the cellular response to brain injury both in human brain tissue and in animal models, in pathologies such as head trauma, cerebral ischemia, and epilepsy.
Dr. Buriticá's publications and academic activities
Dr. Wilmar Saldarriaga is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Morphology, Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. He is a physician and researcher and director of the research group on Perinatal Congenital Malformations, Dysmorphology and Medical Genetics (MACOS) at the Universidad del Valle. It has 100 publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals. He is the author and editor of the books "Fundamentals of Obstetrics and Gynecology", "Integrated Human Embryology" and "Fragile X Syndrome in Ricaurte, Colombia". Professor Saldarriaga was director of the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad del Valle and during this period he was elected representative of the program directors of the Academic Counseling of the Universidad del Valle. In 2014 he received the ASCOFAME Award for “Best Medical Educator in Colombia” in the Young Educators category. In October 2017, he received a meritorious mention for his doctoral thesis in Biomedical Sciences with an emphasis in Medical Genetics at the Universidad del Valle. In addition, during his final year of doctoral training, he completed a year at the UC Davis MIND Institute. He served as Vice Chancellor for Research at Universidad del Valle until January 2021.