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NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons have helped launch the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge (SPARK), an online research initiative designed to become the largest autism study ever undertaken in the United States. Sponsored by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI), SPARK will collect information and DNA for genetic analysis from 50,000 people with autism and their families to advance scientific understanding of the causes of the condition and to hasten the discovery of supports and treatments.

Dr. Catherine Lord, a professor of psychology in psychiatry and of psychology in pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and founding director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain (CADB) at NewYork-Presbyterian, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, will lead the effort locally. For more information about SPARK or if interested in participating, please visit www.SPARKforAutism.org.

Dr. Catherine Lord is a co-author of The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) and receives royalty income from the sales of those kits.