The Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development was well-represented at the 2025 International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Annual Meeting. Team members traveled to Seattle for the conference, which took place April 30 through May 3, 2025.
Duke Autism Center staff and faculty presented nine research posters to an international audience, with several junior staff members sharing methods and findings from their projects. Conference organizers highlighted two of the Autism HERO research team’s posters as Top-Rated Abstracts for INSAR 2025.*
Founding Director Geraldine Dawson, PhD presented "Sense to Know, a Digital Phenotyping Mobile App for Assessment of Autism-Related Behaviors in Children from 1.5 to 8.5 Years of Age" as part of a panel on autism screening along with researchers from other institutions. “Early-career researchers benefit from the opportunity to learn from senior investigators and connect with mentors,” said Charlotte Stoute, CCRP, regulatory coordinator at the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development.
Attendees gathered with other investigators, clinicians, educators, and self-advocates from around the world to share updates and ask questions. Discoveries are shared formally, through scientific presentations, panels, and posters, and informally through conversations with colleagues.
“These events are an important way to share results and methods with colleagues,” said Stoute. “Face-to-face feedback can make scholarly communication more efficient and help investigators improve future research projects and publications before submitting their work to a scientific journal.”
Attending the INSAR conference for the first time, Stoute presented a poster on her work adapting autism diagnostic reports for Spanish-speaking families, in connection with the Duke Autism Center of Excellence STAR study.
National and international scientific conferences provide a means to stay in touch with autism researchers as well as members of the autism community, and disseminate new research findings. Engaging with peers in person is especially important in a field where new discoveries are being made so quickly, and in which public perceptions and the national conversation have also shifted significantly in only a few years. These conferences help investigators and clinicians stay tuned to the pulse of the autism community and stay in touch with their needs.
“I appreciated the comments and questions from autistic adults as many of them shared their perspectives on the presentations,” said Jill Howard, PhD, director of the Duke Autism Clinic.
Senior clinical research specialist Alana Dea noted, “I really appreciated seeing researchers of all levels come together to progress our field to be more inclusive of all individuals across the spectrum.”
Pictured below are the lead authors with their posters, which collectively reflect research from multiple studies at the center.
Influence of Co-Occurring ADHD and the Ability of a Digital Phenotyping App to Detect Behavioral Signs of Autism
Lost in Translation: Assessing Quality and Readability of Autism Diagnostic Reports for Spanish-Speaking Families
Associations Between Co-Occurring Psychiatric Conditions, Sensory Processing, and Challenging Eating Behaviors in Autistic Children
“I really appreciated seeing researchers of all levels come together to progress our field to be more inclusive of all individuals across the spectrum.”
- Alana Dea, Clinical Research Specialist, Sr
Developmental Changes in the Remote Assessment in Infants with and without a Sibling with Autism
Differences in Resting State Brain Network Activity between ADHD-Diagnosed Children using Deep Domain Generalization
Visual Evoked Potentials in Autism and ADHD as a Neurophysiological Metric of Sensory Sensitivities in Young Children
Remote Assessment of Infant Memory of Social vs Non-Social Stimuli
Impact of Co-Occurring ADHD and Anxiety on Bullying Among Young Autistic Children.
The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule with Autism Spectrum Addendum: Inter-Rater Reliability, Convergent Validity and Discriminant Validity in Assessing Anxiety and ADHD in Autistic 4-8 year-olds.
“There is so much inspirational work being conducted in the autism field, and it was nice to gather as a community to share new findings and discuss future directions. I was especially impressed by the positive energy of the event.”
– Jill Howard, PhD
Alexandra Bey, MD, PhD, said "I left the conference feeling hopeful about the quality, breadth, and impact of autism research being done across the world. [The conference] covered the full spectrum from basic neuroscience to clinical care delivery to community support. It was also super cool to meet some of my science heroes in person after reading their papers to inform my own research."
*Ng-Cordell E, Aiello R, Akinsooto D, Dea A, Davis N, Henley AC, Morgan H, Peters E, Schechter J, Spanos M, Stone C, Tenenbaum E, Carpenter KLH*, Kerns CM* (2025). The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule with Autism Spectrum Addendum: Inter-Rater Reliability, Convergent Validity and Discriminant Validity in Assessing Anxiety and ADHD in Autistic 4-8 year-olds. Seattle, WA: Annual Meeting for the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR). *co-last authors
*Davis NO, Henley AC, Schechter J, Aiello R, Akinsooto D, Dea A, Morgan H, Ng-Cordell E, Peters E, Spanos M, Tenenbaum E, Stone C, Kerns CM, Carpenter KLH (2025). Impact of Co-Occurring ADHD and Anxiety on Bullying Among Young Autistic Children. Seattle, WA: Annual Meeting for the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR).