STAR Global Autism Initiative 

The goal of this project is to develop the Global Autism Initiative within UVa’s Supporting Transformative Autism Research (STAR) pan university initiative and to position UVa as a leader in culturally responsive and locally developed autism care in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). STAR’s mission is to improve the lives of individuals with autism through groundbreaking research and innovative models for intervention and training. To date STAR faculty span 6 UVa schools, have published 90 studies, and secured $52 million in autism grant funding. However, these efforts have focused almost exclusively on domestic projects. The purpose of this proposal is to expand STAR’s reach to global autism care. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a global prevalence rate of 1-2%, occurring in all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups (Zeidan et al., 2022). ASD awareness and research efforts have primarily focused on children in high income countries (Dawson-Squibb et al., 2020; Gona et al., 2016; Heng et al., 2023). Yet approximately 95% of individuals with ASD live in LMIC (Olusanya et al., 2020). In many LMIC care for children with ASD is limited by disability stigma, caregiver distress, financial burden, and exclusion from school (Kamau, 2017). We can increase LMIC capacity for ASD care through cross-cultural collaboration and co-development of diagnosis and treatment models with local partners. As a new branch of STAR, the Global Autism Initiative will form a hub of LMIC autism research and position UVa and STAR as a leader for understanding and supporting global autism care.