We at Senses Cultural care about mothers, our sisters and our grandmothers. Particularly those women navigating a life with children who have neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.
On this International Women’s Day, we want to shine a spotlight on one woman who is helping these families by working with Senses Cultural to create a cultural and scientific bridge between the U.S. and Iran in the field of autism research and education.
Doctor Randi J. Hagerman is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and the Medical Director of the MIND Institute at UC Davis. She’s also on the Board of Directors of Senses Cultural.
Through the help and initiatives of NGO organizations, Senses Cultural brought universities in the U.S. and Iran together for the 2nd International Autism Conference in Tehran in December 2017. We invited a team of scientists and medical experts, with the direction of Dr. Hagerman, to increase autism awareness in Iran and worldwide.
Dr. Hagerman is internationally recognized as both a clinician and researcher in the Fragile X syndrome field. She took almost 40 years of experience in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders to the autism conference in Tehran. She led a transfer of evidence-based models of autism treatment to improve outcomes for young children with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders in the U.S. and Iran. Collaborative genetic research programs were created. Online relationships between academics in both countries were established.
For the first time in the recent history of Iranian-American academic relationships, universities in the US and Iran are now working together to find genetic and medical treatments and education for autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
One of our missions at Senses Cultural is creating a more peaceful and healthy environment by fostering understanding through sharing ideas across the globe. Today we honor Dr. Randi J. Hagerman for helping us achieve this goal, and we celebrate her contributions in the field of Fragile X syndrome internationally.