After a nationwide search, the George Washington University selected Kevin Pelphrey, Ph.D., as the new director of the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute (AND Institute) at GW and as professor of pharmacology and physiology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
Pelphrey brings more than 15 years of experience in autism and neuroscience research to the position, most recently having served as the Harris Professor in the Yale Child Study Center, professor of psychology, and founding director of Yale University’s Center for Translational Developmental Neuroscience. He holds seven active grants, many funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), such as a $15 million NIH grant from the Autism Centers of Excellence Program to study sex differences in autism spectrum disorders. He specializes in cognitive neuroscience and developmental disorders.
Pelphrey will draw upon that professional expertise and his personal experience as the parent of a child with autism as he connects GW’s full research spectrum, including faculty members representing six GW colleges, with the university’s clinical partners, namely, the GW Hospital, Children’s National Health System, and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, to provide a one-stop resource for families affected by autism in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The institute will be based at GW’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, where the university is investing more than $5 million to establish the AND Institute as a leader in autism research and policy. Pelphrey and his team will devote particular attention to adults with autism, a rarely covered age range in the field, as well as research on women with autism, who exhibit signs different from those of men and who are often diagnosed at a later age.
In addition to receiving funding from the university and research grants, Pelphrey will be the first to hold the endowed title of the Carbonell Family Professorship in Autism and Neurodevelopment Disorders, established by a $2.5 million gift from Nelson Carbonell, chair of the GW Board of Trustees, and his wife, Michele Carbonell, chair of the National Capital Area chapter of Autism Speaks.
