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Senses Cultural Plays Major Coordinating Role in Bringing Together Iranian and American Professionals for Autism Symposium

Senses Cultural’s Academy of Health has helped organize an Autism Symposium in Tehran, Iran for November 1 & 2. This event is the result of more than one year’s planning by Tata Monfared, President and Founder of Senses Cultural, who was quoted as saying that “We see this as an important step in improving the lives of those with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. We are especially pleased that Iranian and American professionals will be sharing the latest knowledge and research with each other.

TEHRAN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE!

The latest knowledge about treatment and the genetics of autism will be a primary focus of the event, along with how to organize effective patient advocacy organizations and foster collaboration between families and professionals. A molecular geneticist, Dr. Flora Tassone from the UC Davis MIND Institute in Sacramento, California and Robert Miller, Director of the Academy of Health and a patient advocacy organizational consultant, will be representing the American perspective at the symposium.

The Senses Academy of Health was founded in early 2015 to improve the lives of Middle Eastern families impacted by having a child with autism, fragile X syndrome, 22q syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders. The Autism Symposium in Tehran is one its first areas of focus, along with its Academy of Health website in Farsi and English, scheduled to launch later in November.

by Silvana Gargione

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Thank You, from Founder Tata Monfared

We just celebrated the opening of “Enduring Power, “ the exhibition of Middle Eastern women photographers last night, Wednesday October 15, at UC Davis Alumni Center with great participation from family, fans and friends.

For this exhibition and for the very first time, we collaborated with women artists and their media organizations in the Middle East in bringing together the collection of work with their stories. The pictures represent stories about lives of women captured in moments through the clear lenses of these photographers’ cameras. These photographers illustrate the lives and surroundings of women in their communities.

As the executive director of Senses Cultural, it is my honor to present this truly collaborative project by illuminating the creativity of women artists in Middle East and sharing their stories with style and intelligence.

I am thankful for the keen participations of a number of high executives and professional women and men in support of this monumental educational art project. I was thrilled to hear their positive views and feedback around the friendly conversations at the conference room after hearing a talk presented powerfully by our keynote speaker , Samina Ali.

We enjoyed listening to insights form Ms. Delaine Eastin, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction, and a powerful force behind women raising their professional status through education. We also heard supportive feedback from other individuals and UC Davis professors. Professors included our honoree board member Professor Randi Hagerman and the heartfelt observations of Ms. Natalia Owen from the Honoree Council of The Russian Federation in Sacramento. Their interviews and observations will be posted on our blog soon.

Thanks to the entire team of senses contributors for their commitment and hard work in making this Exhibition possible.

I am humbled by the help and dedication of Sina Araghi, the exhibit curator, and for all the hard work and coordination he has offered working with the Senses Cultural team.

It is our great pleasure to have the talented journalist and column writer, Mr. Abolhasan Mokhtabad, with our team as his capable coordination and communications have helped Senses cultural expand their possibilities in a great scale.

My special thanks to Hamideh Zoulfaghari, our world Gold Winner Iranian woman photographer, for sharing her works and assisting Senses Cultural in organizing the collection from Iran.

I need to bring thanks to the whole team of senses artists, designers and writers for their dedications and works with us.

My deepest appreciation goes to the wonderful University of Davis, and the Cal Aggie Alumni Center directors, who assisted us in a keen and organized manner.

Thanks to all of you for your participation yesterday and in the upcoming days, and for bringing support to our mission of building bridges between cultures and to bring more understandings to our world.

With your support we will be able to take this exhibition to different universities in California, and beyond.

Thank you,

Tata Monfared, Senses Cultural Founder