Expert: Autism statistics difficult to interpret
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — April is Autism Awareness Month, and thanks to a grant, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine has recruited one of the nation’s top autism research experts to work on the Medical Mile in downtown Grand Rapids.
The $2 million gift from the Mall Family Foundation has made it possible for Lucas Pozzo-Miller, Ph.D., to become the endowed professor in genetic autism research. His research focuses on the neurobiological basis of syndromic forms of autism caused by single-gene variants.
According to the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism affects 1 in 36 people. Pozzo-Miller says the numbers are difficult to interpret.
“Some of those numbers might include other disorders caused by single genes,” said Pozzo-Miller. “The most prevalent form that everybody is familiar with is the result of many different genes, genetic susceptibility, for example, like for any other human diseases that interact, perhaps, in complex manner with environmental exposures.”
Pozzo-Miller says the opportunity to collaborate with clinicians and experts at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital and Van Andel Institute and the growing number of researchers at Michigan State University drew him to the position.
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