Ben-Gurion University and Soroka University Medical Center will be opening the National Autism Research Center with funding support by the Health and Science and Technology ministries.
The center is slated to be the country’s leading information and research center on autism.
Scholars will be able to access research, and those who seek new treatment methods or wish to create shared national databases will be able to do so through the center.
“The decision to upgrade the Negev Autism Center from a regional to a national body is a gratifying vote of confidence in the research we’ve done here, and especially in our multi-disciplinary approach to treating autism,” said Prof. Ilan Dinstein, who heads the center.
“Since we founded the center in 2015, we’ve encouraged scientists and clinicians from a variety of different fields, including pediatrics, neurology, psychiatry, genetics, neuroscience, developmental psychology, molecular biology and biomedical engineering, to share their findings.”
Dinstein explained that “the results of that collaboration forms the basis of the first database of its kind in Israel with a variety of clinical, behavioral, and biological measurements, gathered from hundreds of children with autism and their families.”
The new facility will serve academic researchers and healthcare professionals alike with a wealth of up-to-date research, detailed case studies, treatment methods and more, making the National Center for the Study of Autism “an invaluable warehouse of data and information,” according to BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz.