Autism Speaks welcomes Dr. Vikram Patel to the science advisory committee

Autism Speaks is pleased to announce that Dr. Vikram Patel, MBBS, Ph.D., has joined the organization’s Medical and Science Advisory Committee. The committee provides continual guidance to Autism Speaks leadership on achieving our scientific mission of advancing research into causes and better interventions for autism spectrum disorder and related conditions.

Dr. Patel is a psychiatrist and researcher best known for his public health work developing interventions for people with mental health disorders and developmental disabilities in low-resource settings. Since 2016, he has been the Pershing Square professor of global health in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. 

He is also an adjunct professor at the Public Health Foundation of India, honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (where he co-founded the Centre for Global Mental Health in 2008), and is a co-founder of Sangath, an Indian NGO dedicated to research in the areas of child development, adolescent health and mental health.

“Dr. Patel’s influential work on non-specialist-mediated interventions for autism spectrum disorder in India and Pakistan laid the foundation for the development of the PASS-Plus intervention, and was supported by an Autism Speaks initiative that is improving access to care in underserved communities” says Andy Shih, Ph.D., chief science officer at Autism Speaks. “His impressive body of research and dedication to public health make him an ideal advisor in our mission to improve lives today and accelerate a spectrum of solutions for tomorrow.”