Lab Members:
Eric Courchesne, Ph.D.
Director
Eric Courchesne is one of the world’s leading experts on the neurobiology of autism. He is the overall Director and principle investigator of the UCSD Autism Center of Excellence, and is also the director of the UCSD Autism Center’s MRI Project on early brain development in autism. His research and the Center are dedicated to uncovering the brain bases and genetic causes of autism. Current MRI studies of autism aim to identify the brain structures that are abnormal at infancy in autism and to discover patterns of abnormal early brain growth.
Current functional brain imaging techniques (“fMRI”) are used to establish links between autistic symptoms and the brain sites responsible for them. His studies of frontal cortex microstructure seeks to identify abnormal developmental changes in microstructure and gene expression from early childhood to adulthood in autism. Recognized through publications in such journals as Science, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medicial Association (JAMA), his work has significantly contributed to scientists’ understanding of the biological bases of autism, and has been the source of new insights on the functional role of the frontal lobes and cerebellum. He is frequently invited to lecture at major conferences and symposia and he has also made numerous media appearances, including as a featured guest on U.S., Canadian, Japanese, French and British public television science programs. His discoveries have also been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines around the world, including Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.
He is a member of numerous advisory boards, including Autism- France and the Autism Society of America. Dr. Courchesne’s studies have resulted in over 170 publications. His research is supported through grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the Cure Autism Now Foundation, the NICHD Developmental Brain and Tissue Bank at the University of Maryland, the Harvard Brain Bank and the Autism Tissue Program.
Karen Pierce, Ph.D.
Research Faculty, UCSD Department of Neurosciences
One of the most striking features of autism is the failure to develop or to understand complex social relationships. The overarching goal of Dr. Pierce's research program is to elucidate the neural underpinnings of these social deficits in patients with autism. Her studies have utilized several approaches, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and behavioral assays.
Dr. Pierce has been awarded several research grants including those from NIMH and the Organization for Autism Research. She has also received an Autism Society of America Research Award and a UCSD Chancellors Research Award in recognition of her outstanding work. Dr. Pierce serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for well-regarded journals such as Archives of General Psychiatry and Brain. Dr. Pierce has published extensively in a wide range of areas from behavioral treatment to brain dynamics in autism. Her functional imaging work was previously highlighted in Time Magazine (May, 2002).
She is an invited speaker, both nationally and internationally, as an expert on the pathogenesis of autism. Her current research interests include studies aimed at detecting autism at the earliest ages possible. Such studies will bring the field of autism research closer to finding a cure.
Cindy Carter, Ph.D.
Research Psychologist
Cindy has been the Research Psychologist at the Center for Autism Research since early 2004, and has worked with children with autism and their families for 13 years. Previous to her joining the Courchesne Laboratory, she served as the Director for Children's Hospital's Autism Intervention Center. Cindy received her master's and doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 2000, where she was trained in the Koegel Autism Center under the renowned autism treatment researcher, Robert Koegel. Cindy is responsible for conducting the developmental and psychological evaluations of the individuals participating in our research and assigning diagnoses to the participants. She also is in charge of making sure our studies are in compliance with University and Hospital Human Protections Program regulations.
Melanie Weinfeld, Ph.D.
Research Psychologist
Melanie has been a Research Psychologist at the Autism Center of Excellence since 2007. She received her doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. Melanie has been providing psychological assessment and behavioral intervention services to children and their families since 1993. She has worked in school, clinic, and residential settings. Melanie has provided assessment and intervention services to children with autism spectrum disorders as a school psychologist and as a behavioral interventionist. At the Center, she is responsible for conducting developmental and psychological evaluations and for assigning diagnoses to participants in our studies.
Lisa T. Eyler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Eyler is a clinical research psychologist who joined the Autism Center of Excellence in 2007. The focus of her research is exploring the structure and function of the brain in individuals across the lifespan. She is particularly interested in the effects of neuropsychiatric disorders and age, and on relating cognitive performance to brain measures. Her previous studies have examined brain function using functional magnetic resonance imaging in adults and seniors with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She has also studied the normal aging process using functional and structural MRI.
Dr. Eyler is author or co-author of over 30 peer-reviewed manuscripts, serves as reviewer or triage editor for numerous scientific journals, and presents her work regularly at national meetings. Her research has been funded by the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression, the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry, and the VA Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center. Dr. Eyler mentors graduate students in clinical psychology and serves as the director of a post-doctoral fellowship program for psychologists at the San Diego VA.
Stuart J. Spendlove, Ph.D.
Bilingual Research Psychologist
Stuart was hired as the Bilingual Research Psychologist for the Autism Center
of Excellence in July 2009, a position funded by cooperation with the National
Foundation for Autism Research (NFAR).
He has worked with Spanish speaking children and families with a variety
of disorders for nearly 10 years. Previous to joining the Courchesne
Laboratory, he completed a one year clinical internship with the UCSD/VA
Psychology Internship Consortium working at Rady Children's Hospital's
Outpatient Psychiatry and UCSD Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Services.
Stuart received his master's and doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Texas
Tech University in 2006 and 2009 respectively, where he completed research
studies and clinical work with Latino youth and families along with his advisor
Joaquin Borrego, Jr., PhD; a researcher of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy
(PCIT) and ethnic minority topics.
Stuart is responsible for conducting the developmental and psychological
evaluations of all Spanish speaking individuals participating in our research
studies and assisting Spanish speaking families at MRI scans.
Clelia Ahrens-Barbeau
Lab Manager
Jamie Desmond
Clinical Coordinator
John Morgan
Graduate Student
John Morgan joined the lab as a graduate student in the summer of 2004.
His research is centered around elucidating the microstructural and
genetic alterations present in the postmortem autistic brain. His
current primary research focus is glial abnormalities, particularly
confirming the existence and exploring the likely impact of early
developmental neuroinflammation. He has also investigated abnormalities
in neuropil volume and neuronal spacing via study of minicolumn width
in the postmortem autistic brain. Prior to beginning his postmortem
work, he studied developmental macrostructural alterations in the
autistic amygdala using MRI. His undergraduate thesis explored stem
cell transplantation as a therapy for Parkinson's disease in a number
of animal models.
His research is supported through a grant from the Cure Autism Now
Foundation, and acquisition of the tissue under study has been made
possible by the NICHD Developmental Brain and Tissue Bank at the
University of Maryland, the Harvard Brain Bank, the Autism Tissue
Program, and citizens in the San Diego community.