2020 Annual Embracing Autism Luncheon 

We invite you to join Avondale House for our annual Embracing Autism Luncheon featuring special guest speaker, Dr Huda Zoghbi. 

Avondale House is a Houston non-profit that provides individuals with autism the resources, education, and training to develop to their fullest potential.

Dr. Zoghbi is Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology, and Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine, an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the founding Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Zoghbi’s interests range from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration.  Zoghbi’s work in basic neurodevelopment led to the discovery of the gene Atoh1 and to showing that it governs the development of several components of proprioceptive (position sense or sixth sense), balance, hearing, vestibular, and breathing pathways. Specifically they found that some neurons that require Atoh1 to develop are critical for neonatal breathing and their malfunction might explain some cases of sudden infant death syndrome. Zoghbi’s group also discovered that mutations in MECP2 cause Rett syndrome, a syndromic autism disorder. They revealed the importance of this gene for various neuropsychiatric features including isolated autism and syndromic bipolar. She has also identied genes that cause svarious types of intellectual disabilities, behavioral disorders, and degenerative balance disorders. Zoghbi trained over 85 scientists and physician-scientists and is a member of several professional organizations and boards. She has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among Dr. Zoghbi’s recent honors are the Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from Rockefeller University, the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Canada Gairdner International Prize, and Honorary degrees from Yale University, Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and most recently the Victor A. McKusick Leadership Award, American Society of Human Genetics.

We hope you will join us as we celebrate another year of serving those affected by autism.