Woody R McGinnis
Keynote: J Neurol Disord
The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is predicated solely on behavioral criteria. Associated abnormalities in visceral function-immune, digestive, cardiovascular, laryngeal-are well-described, relatively consistent, and often quite striking in clinical presentation. We are free to consider for heuristic purposes how these changes in visceral function are not necessarily epiphenomenal, but inherent to ASD as a true somatobehavioral syndrome. The discussion begins with immune dysregulation in brain and periphery, and expands to a broad cross-disciplinary perspective.
Woody R McGinnis was educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Colorado, USA. After volunteer work in rural Peru, his general practice in Arizona included treatment of many children with autism. McGinnis commenced full-time research in autism in 2001 under the auspices of the Autism Research Institute, San Diego. In 2009, the publication of â??Neurotoxic Brainstem Impairment as Proposed Threshold Event in Autistic Regressionâ?? by CRC Press as a chapter in Autism: Oxidative Stress, Inflammation and Immune Abnormalities established McGinnis as a leading thinker in brainstem and autism. He has worked closely with the Autism Tissue Program and the University of Maryland Brain and Tissue Bank to enhance the collection of brainstem, including preservation of midline structures such as NTS.
Neurological Disorders received 1343 citations as per Google Scholar report