Women & Infants, Bradley receive $1.5M grant to support RI-CART autism research, treatment

THE RHODE Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment will use the $1.5 million grant to continue recruitment and development of a state-wide, population-based autism patient registry.
THE RHODE Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment will use the $1.5 million grant to continue recruitment and development of a state-wide, population-based autism patient registry.

PROVIDENCE – A $1.5 million renewal grant has been awarded to Women & Infants and Bradley hospitals for their work with the Rhode Island Consortium for Autism Research and Treatment.
The three-year grant from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative will allow RI-CART, based at Bradley Hospital, to continue recruitment and development of a state-wide, population-based autism patient registry.

The first grant from Simons Foundation was received in August 2013. Since then, RI-CART has recruited more than 1,000 individuals and their families to participate in the registry. The goal for the second part of this effort is to recruit an additional 1,000 participants into a study that includes a brief clinical assessment, collection of biological samples for genetic analysis and referrals to other research studies. The long-term goal is to enroll all individuals with autism in Rhode Island in this research network.

Participants’ families are active in the management and function of RI-CART, something that makes it unique.

“Autism is a poorly understood family of related conditions. Unfortunately, there is no specific medical treatment for autism, underscoring the importance for additional research,” Stephen Sheinkopf, a clinical researcher at Women & Infants Hospital’s Brown Center for the Study of Children at Risk and co-director and principal investigator of RI-CART, said in a statement.

- Advertisement -

RI-CART, which also has partnered with The Autism Project, has been supported by funds from the Brown University Institute for Brain Science, the Norman Prince Neuroscience Institute, and the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

RI-CART is a collaboration among partner organizations across Rhode Island – the state’s leading hospitals including Bradley Hospital, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Women & Infants Hospital, Butler Hospital, Memorial Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital; institutions of higher education including Brown University, the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College; service agencies including the Groden Center and Perspectives Corp.; state agencies including the Rhode Island departments of Health and Education; and community programs and parent advocacy groups including The Autism Project.

No posts to display