David Amaral, PhD,
Is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,is the 
Director of Research, University of California at Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and President of INSAR (International Society for Autism Research). His interests include research on the neuroanatomical, behavioral and electrophysiological organization and functions of brain systems that are involved in learning, memory, emotion and social behavior. He also conducts research into the neurobiological underpinnings of autism spectrum disorders., ranging from longitudinal MRI studies of children with autism to evaluation of autoantibodies in these children and in their mothers, as well as in nonhuman primate models of autism.

Simon Baron-Cohen, PhD,
is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology, Director of the Autism Research Centre (ARC) and CLASS (Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service) in Cambridge, vice-president of INSAR, is author of several scientific publications, including Mindblindness (1995), and the DVD-ROM Mind Reading: an interactive guide to emotions (2003). He has been awarded from the American Psychological Association, the British Association for Science (BA), and the British Psychological Society (BPS). His current research is testing the 'extreme male brain' theory at the neural, endocrine and genetic levels.

Thomas Bourgeron, MD,
is a geneticist and director of the Human Genetics and Cognitive Functions at the Department of Neuroscience at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. He identified several mutations associated with ASD in genes that impact the development of neurons and their ability to form synapses.. Dr. Bourgeron is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization and received several prestigious awards and honuors, including the 2005 Young Investigator Award from the European Neuroscience Institute and the French Academy of Sciences’ award for Biological Discoveries of 2007. His research interests are focused on the genetic origin and evolution of human cognitive functions.

Ernesto Caffo, M.D.
Is Professor of Child Neuropsychiatry at the University of Modena Medical School, as well as President of “Telefono Azzurro”., he is a member of numerous scientific international organizations. He served on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP) and has been president of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP). He has authored numerous books and scientific papers in the field of child psychiatry, developmental psyco-pathology, autism, trauma and abuse in chilhood and adolescente.

Eric Fombonne, M.D.
He is the Head of the Division of Child Psychiatry at McGill University and Director of the Department of Psychiatry at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. He is a leading authority on epidemiology of autism and on the putative links between autism and immunization. He has also been involved in family and genetic studies of autism, and in outcome studies. He has a long track record of scientific/research leadership including serving as a consultant for the National Academy of Sciences, the Center for Diseases Control, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the MRC (UK), the MIND Institute (U.C. Davis).

Evelyne Friedel,
is a lawyer with Post-graduate degree in International Law and the president of Autism-Europe, of whom Member of the Board since 2003. She has been author of the Collective Complaint of Autiem-Europe against France 13/2002 (fundamental right to education for autistic people in France) and represented Autism Europe before the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe. She has been president of Autisme-France President since 2004 to 2006 and represented Autisme France before the French Government. Since 2006 she is the Vice-president of FEGAPEI, National Federation of Parental Organisations, Employers and Managers of services for mentally disabled people.

Joaquin Fuentes-Biggi, M.D.
, a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist who specialised in ASD at the Albany Medical Center Hospital, New York, and at the Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, University of Pittsburgh. He is the scientific responsible of the GAUTENA programme for ASD in the Gipuzkoa province, Spain, director of the Child Pasychiatry, Policlínica Gipuzkoa, coordinator of several research programmes in the field of ASD, and author of the manual Pharmautisme. He is member of the Executive Committee of IACAPAP and co-ordinator of the working group on ASD of the Instituto Nacional de Salud Carlos III, Madrid.

Patricia Howlin, PhD,
is Professor of Clinical Psychology at St. George's Hospital, University of London, is Consultant Chartered Clinical Psychologist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society.. Her interests include research on the effectiveness of interventions for ASD, evaluation of different intervention programmes, including comparative studies of home and school based treatments; a randomized control trial of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), long term studies of the impact of early interventions, and the impact of employment programmes for high functioning individuals with autism/Asperger syndrome.

Ami Klin, PhD,
Is Harris Professor of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, is the director of the Yale Child Study Centre's Autism Program, which is committed to research, training and to providing comprehensive clinical services to children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. The program is also advocacy. His current research focuses on mechanisms of socialization and their disruption in the autism spectrum disorders, including the development of novel techniques to quantify social processes using eye-tracking technologies. to visualize and measure social engagement. He and colleagues are monitoring babies at risk for autism for indications of vulnerabilities for autism in early infancy

Catherine Lord,Ph.D.
Is professor of psychology, psychiatry and pediatrics, Director of the Autism and Communication Disorders Center (UMACC), University of Michigan, providing clinical evaluations, consultations and training in the field of diagnosis of ASD. She was involved in developing the gold standard diagnostic instruments ADOS and ADI-R. Her current projects include the development of a toddler module for the ADOS, a repository of cell lines and phenotypic data for families with a child with autism and a typical child, the development of a measure of language in children with ASD, studies of different interventions with very young children and a longitudinal study of children followed from age 2 who are now in their teens.

Nancy Minshew, MD,
is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, Director of the University of Pittsburgh based Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEA), is an internationally recognized expert in autism. Dr. Minshew is collaborating with a team of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Illinois at Chicago to find the neurological, genetic, and cognitive basis for autism. Her research has completed large-scale neuropsychologic studies, eye movement and posturography studies, structural MRI, and MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy) of high functioning autistic individuale, resulted in evidence of a neocortical systems as the primary site of CNS dysfunction.

Matthijs Muijen, M.D.
Is the regional adviser for mental health, World Health Organisation (WHO) Europe. He has been trained in Medicine at the University of Amsterdam, in psychiatry at the Goodmayes hospital, east London, Fulbourn hospital, Cambridge, Institute of Psychiatry. MSc in epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, PhD at the Institute of Psychiatry, he has been chief executive of the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH). He is one of the highest profile figures in the filed of mental health in Europe and published various papers and chapters on community psychiatry

Franco Nardocci, M.D.
Is the president of the Italian Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ( SINPIA). His fields of interest and expertise are the mental and intellectual disorders in childhood and adolescence, the inclusion in mainstream school and in society of children with psychiatric disorders as well as the organisation and management of public health services for child and adolescent psychiatry. He was the main author of the Italian guide-lines on ASD edited by the SINPIA , co-ordinator of the task force on ASD of the Italian Ministry of Health and is member of the Committee of Experts for the national Guidelines on the treatment of ASD at the National Institute of health (ISS).

Giacomo Rizzolati, PhD
is Full Professor, and Director of the Department of Human Physiology, University of Parma, is Associate Member of the Neuroscience Program, San Diego, member of "Academia Europaea", of "Accademia dei Lincei", "Honorary Foreign Member" of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and “Associé étranger” of the Académie des sciences, Institut de France. The main focus of his research concerns the motor system and its role in cognitive functions. In the last years he was mostly involved in studies of the mirror neuron system. His experimental approach consists of recording the activity of single neurons in non human primates and of brain imaging in humans.

Sally J. Rogers, PhD
Is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, Sacramento Ca, specializes in conducting research into early social, cognitive, and emotional development, communication, imitation and social relationships in people with developmental disorders, and treatment efficacy in autism. Her clinical interests include early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders, and evaluation of cognitive, behavioral, social, emotional, and adaptive functioning in children with other developmental disorders. She has written extensively in her field, authoring numerous articles and books and developing training videos on child development.

Sebastiano Russo, M.D.
Professor of Neurology and of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Catania, till 2010he has been the Director of the Department Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Santa Marta & S. Venera Hospital, Acireale, Catania, where he started a Center for diagnosis and research in the field of ASD. He is the author of over 50 scientific publications and member of the board of the SINPIA. He participated in several Working groups ad Committees of the Healt regional ministry, including the drafting committee of the regional guide-lines for ASD in 2006, as well as the Committee on ASD of the Healt national ministry in 2007-2008.

Sir Michael Rutter,, FRS FBA FMedSci,
has been Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, and Honorary Director of the Medical Research Council Child Psychiatry Unit. His studies of autism, developmental psychiatric disorders and children whose psychiatric problems have a clear organic component have resulted in many publications. Professor Rutter is recognised as contributing to the establishment of child psychiatry as a medical and biopsychosocial specialty with a strong scientific base. In 1994 he set up the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Unit at the Institute of Psychiatry.He is an honorary member of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and founding Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. The Michael Rutter Centre for Children and Adolescents at the Maudsley Hospital, London, is named after him.

Renato Scifo, M.D.
Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Santa Marta & S. Venera Hospital, Acireale, Catania, he is responsible for the Autism Center and coordinates the intervention programme for childen with ASD of the ASP of Catania, according to the regional Guide Lines, which he contributed to draft. He is the scientific advisor of the parent local association. His field of interest is the research on psychopharmacology of ASD.

Rutger Jan van der Gaag, M.D.
is a child and youth psychiatrist who conducts research in the field of developmental psychopathology. Early detection of and intervention in ASD, treatment of ADHD, neuropsychological interactions in developmental disorders, recognition of ASD in adults and double diagnoses (addiction and psychopathology in young people) are some of the projects that he is currently involved in. Van der Gaag's department is working on a dataset of the results of all children and adolescents that have been clinically studied by Stichting Kinder- & Jeugdpsychiatrie Oost-Nederland (Child and Youth Psychiatry East Netherlands).

Fred Volkmar M.D.
is professor of psychiatry, pediatrics and psychology, director of the Child Study Center (CSC), Yale University, and chief of the Department of Child Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital, is a world authority in the diagnosis and treatment of autism,. At the CSC, Volkmar directs an autism clinic that conducts cutting-edge research on the basic biology of autism and its diagnosis and treatment. An editor of the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Volkmar was the primary author of the autism section in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the standard guide to psychiatric diagnosis.