Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day

The Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldbert Research was held on June 8, 2023.

The agenda and book of abstracts for this event can be found here: Agenda.

Check back here for updates about the event.

Congratulations to this year's award winners!

The winner of the Maria Z. Gitta Award for Best Clinical Science Presentation was Olivia Dobson from the University of Guelph for her talk entitled "Management of Needle Pain and Fear in Autistic Children: Qualitative Perspectives from Caregivers".

The winner of the Maria Z. Gitta Award for Best Basic Science Presentation was Ella Dooraert from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University for her talk entitled "The Impact of Early Postnatal Environment On the Cntnap2-knockout Rat Model for Autism Spectrum Disorder".

The winner of the Best Overall Poster Presentation was Israa Ibrahim from the Faculty of Education at Western University.  Her poster was entitled "Perceptions of Inclusion in Informal Education Settings".

Congratulations to all the winners.  

The 7th Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day was held on Thursday June 2, 2022.

We were thrilled to welcome David Wright as our Keynote Speaker.

David Wright is a Professor of History and Canada Research Chair in the History of Health Policy at McGill University.  His 2011 book, DOWNS: the history of a disability (Oxford University Press), won the biennial Dingle Prize for best book in the history of science and medicine.  He has also co-authored (with Sasha Mullally) Foreign Practices: Immigrant Doctors and the History of Canadian Medicare (McGill Queen's University Press, 2020).  He was recently elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.  

You can view Professor Wrights Keynote address below:

You can view the Schedule/Book of Abstracts here: Book of Abstracts. 

If you have any questions, please be in touch with Sarah O'Flanagan at sarah.oflanagan@lhsc.on.ca  

The winner of the Annual Maria Z. Gitta Award for best presentation by a trainee was Julia Montenegro.  The title of her talk was Joint Attention in 4 and 6-month-old Infants at High Familial Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association with brain development.

Congratulations Julia.  

The 6th Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day was held online on the afternoon of Thursday June 3, 2021, from 12:45pm to 5:00pm.  

This event featured a keynote talk by Dr. Alysson Muotri, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego. 

Dr. Muotri's talk will was titled: "Insights Into Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Functional Brain Organioids". 

To read more about Dr. Muotri and his research, please visit his website: https://medschool.ucsd.edu/som/pediatrics/research/labs/muotri-lab/Pages/default.aspx 

The agenda for presentations is available here: Agenda.

The winner of the Maria Z. Gitta award for best oral presentation by a student or trainee was Kara Hannah for her talk titled: "Linking Social Communication and Meta-Linguistic Ability in Autism Spectrum Disorder."  Congratulations Kara!

The Developmental Disabilities Program held the 5th Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day as an online event on May 25, 2020.

This event featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Kelley, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Queen's University, and talks by Western University Faculty members.

Dr. Kelley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Queen's University.  The focus of her research is based in developmental psychology, and grounded in an epigenetic, or systems approach to development.  The overarching theme of her research is to examine the interaction between various aspects of language development, cognitive development, and social cognitive development, and their influence on the overall development of children with autism, language delay, and typical development processes.  She is particularly interested in the development pathways of children with autism and how these children's language and cognitive development are affected by their social difficulties.

Her talk was entitled: "Social and Self-Awareness in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder".

The rest of the event showcased talks by Dr. Ryan Stevenson, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Dr. Emma Duerden, Ph.D., Faculty of Education, Dr. Julio Martinez-Trufillo, MD, Ph.D., Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Dr. J. Bruce Morton, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Western University.

Dr. Ryan Stevenson's talk was entitled: "Discrete Sensory Phenotypes in Autism Spectrum Disorder."

Dr. Duerden's talk was entitled: "Development of Subcortical Structures in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Association with anxiety behaviours."

Dr. Martinez-Trujillo's talk was entitled: "Electrophysiological Characterization of Human Stem Cell Derived Networks of Excitatory Neurons in Rett Syndrome."

Dr. Morton's talk was entitled: "Child Development Research and Mobile Technology: Possibilities and pitfalls."

The program for the 5th Annual Research Day is available here.

In 2019, the Developmental Disabilities Program changed the official name of our Research Day to "The Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day".  This change was to honour the contributions to the fiend and the legacy of Dr. Benjamin Goldberg. 

The 4th Annual Dr. Benjamin Goldberg Developmental Disabilities Research Day featured a keynote talk by Dr. Daniel Messinger, Ph.D.  Dr. Messinger is a Professor at the University of Miami.  He is the coordinator of the Developmental Psychology program, the Associate Director of the CHild Division (Developmental Program), the Director of the Social Systems Informatics, Center for Computational Science, the Director, UM SIB SMILE, and a Cooper Fellow at the University of Miami.  His talk was entitled: "Next Generation Neurodevelopmental Research in the Clinic and the Classroom."

in 2019, the Developmental Disabilities Program also introduced the Maria Z. Gitta award for the best presentation by a student or trainee.  The inaugural winner was Faraj Haddad, a graduate student in the lab of Dr. Susanne Schmid.   

The program for the 4th Annual Research Day can be accessed here.

Below are some photographs from the event.

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The 3rd Annual Developmental Disabilities Research Day was held on May 4, 2018. 

This event featured 2 keynote speakers.

The morning keynote address was given by Dr. Susanne Schmid, Ph.D.  Dr. Schmid is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.  Her talk was entitled: "Sensory Processing and Reactivity in Autism."

The afternoon keynote address was given by Dr. Margaret Fahnstock, Ph.D.  Dr. Fahnstock is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University.  Her talk was entitled: "BDNF/TrkB Signaling as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Target for Autism."

The program for this event can be viewed here. 

The Second Annual Developmental Disabilities Research Day was held on May 4, 2017. 

The keynote address was given by Dr. Daniel Ansari, Ph.D.  Dr. Ansari is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology and the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario.

The program for this event can be accessed here.

The first Developmental Disabilities Research Day was held on May 5, 2016. 

The keynote address was given by Dr. Caroline Robertson, Ph.D.  Dr. Robertson is an Assistant Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth. 

The program for this event can be viewed here.