Nicole McDonald
Dr. Nicole McDonald is a licensed clinical psychologist and an assistant clinical professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment. Clinically, she specializes in neurodevelopmental assessment, especially in younger children and children with rare genetic syndromes. She has expertise in the measurement of early social-communication behavior and is a certified Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) trainer. Dr. McDonald also specializes in parent-mediated behavioral interventions, with a focus on Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). She co-developed and co-leads the PCIT Clinic at UCLA. Her research integrates behavioral and neuroscience methods (fNIRS and EEG) to better understand autism and neurodevelopmental concerns as they first arise in developmentally and often medically complex populations (e.g., NICU graduates), with an increasing focus on adapting interventions to better suit these children and families.
Ramandeep Kaur
Ramandeep (Raman) Kaur serves as Program Manager for the ARIA IMPACT Longitudinal Natural History Study at CHLA/UCLA and as Research Director of Pediatrics – Neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles. In these roles, she supports the operational and administrative infrastructure of the Clinical Coordinating Center, working closely with multi-site research teams to advance clinical trial readiness for individuals with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders.
Raman brings a background spanning public health, clinical research administration, regulatory affairs, precision health, and artificial intelligence. Her prior experience includes work at the CDC and the UCI Clinical and Translational Science Award program, where she developed expertise in IRB processes, research compliance, electronic research system implementation, and the integration of AI and data-driven approaches in health research contexts. She has contributed to initiatives ranging from national conference development to cross-institutional program coordination at the intersection of technology and clinical care.
Raman is committed to research that is rigorous, equitable, and directly connected to the communities it serves.
Abigail Dickinson
Abigail Dickinson, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Neuroscientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and a faculty member of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment (CART). She received her Master’s degree in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience and her Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield, UK, where she specialized in EEG markers of autism and sensory processing, before completing postdoctoral training at UCLA and expanding her focus to early development and longitudinal studies of infants at elevated likelihood for autism.
Dr. Dickinson’s research sits at the intersection of basic and clinical science, focusing on the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder. She has specific expertise in using EEG to characterize early brain development, with the goal of developing scalable, objective biomarkers that can inform diagnosis, patient stratification, and clinical trial design. Her work has contributed to linking neural activity patterns, such as spectral power and peak alpha frequency, to later developmental outcomes in autism and related genetic conditions including tuberous sclerosis complex. A core focus has been developing EEG paradigms and processing pipelines that span the full breadth of the autism spectrum, including individuals with limited language and those with profound autism, so that these tools can be meaningfully deployed in more representative populations.
Monique Vobecky
Monique Vobecky graduated from Harvard University in 2025 with a BA in Neuroscience and a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. As an undergraduate, she conducted her senior thesis research in the Lipton Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital, investigating how Kleefstra Syndrome affects cellular circadian rhythms. At the KiNDD Lab at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Monique works on the Autism Biomarker Consortium for Clinical Trials (ABC-CT) study and contributes to data analysis for the JASPER Early Intervention for Tuberous Sclerosis (JETS) study. For the Aligning Research to Impact Autism Initiative, she serves on the IMPACT CCC Team as an Impact Study Coordinator, supporting community engagement and patient advocacy efforts. She is passionate about understanding neurodevelopmental disorders and plans to attend medical school where she hopes to combine her interests in pediatrics and neurology.
Fleming Peck
Fleming Peck is a PhD candidate in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCLA studying the behavioral, computational, and neural mechanisms of human learning and memory. She received her degree in Neuroscience with a minor in Computer Science from Princeton University. She has a longstanding interest in the neurodevelopment of language and communication, including research on early cognitive development, dyslexia, and autism.
Tanya Marin
Tanya Marin earned her BS in Public Health at Cal State University of Northridge, with a minor in Lactation, and her MPH at UCLA. Prior to joining Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA), Tanya led Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screening and response implementation across multiple LA County Dept. of Health Services (DHS) clinics for ACEs-LA Network of Care, a collaborative effort between LA County stakeholders, DHS, and the state to build community resilience. She was responsible for clinic data reporting and quality improvement initiatives and coordinated ACEs-LA’s Lunch and Learn webinars. Tanya also has experience translating ACEs materials into Spanish and served on the UCLA/UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN) Spanish Language and Cultural Competence committee.
Raj Rajaraman
Raj Rajaraman, MD, MS, is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at UCLA and a pediatric epileptologist and clinical neurophysiologist specializing in rare developmental and epileptic encephalopathies. He directs both the UCLA CDKL5 Center of Excellence and the UCLA TSC Center of Excellence, leading multidisciplinary programs that integrate clinical care with translational research.
His work focuses on EEG biomarkers and computational approaches to predict disease trajectory, developmental outcomes, and treatment response, advancing precision medicine in pediatric epilepsy. Dr. Rajaraman has led over 20 clinical trials and natural history studies, contributing to FDA-approved therapies and validated outcome measures in rare epilepsies.
He collaborates with international consortia and advocacy organizations to build large, deeply phenotyped datasets that accelerate therapeutic development. His research is supported by federal and foundation funding, including the NIH and Department of Defense. He is a recipient of the TSC Alliance Champion Award and the American Epilepsy Society Young Investigator Award.
Viviana Rodriguez
Viviana Rodriguez graduated from the University of California, Irvine, with a BA in Psychology and Sociology. With over eight years of research experience, she currently works at UCLA with Dr. Rujuta Wilson and Dr. Nicole McDonald as a Clinical Research Coordinator, supporting the design, implementation, and management of clinical and natural history studies focused on neurodevelopmental disorders and rare genetic conditions.
Shafali Jeste
Dr. Shafali Jeste is a behavioral child neurologist specializing in autism and neurodevelopmental disorders. At UCLA she is the Professor and Mattel Executive Endowed Chair of Pediatrics, Executive Medical Director of Pediatrics, and Executive Director of the UCLA Children’s Discovery and Innovation Institute.
She completed her undergraduate degree at Yale, Medical school at Harvard Medical School, and pediatrics and pediatric neurology residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on early detection, intervention and precision health in neurodevelopmental disorders, including directing the first randomized controlled trial of behavioral intervention for infants with a genetic form of autism, launching large scale clinical trial readiness efforts in genetic syndromes, serving as a co-PI of the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials and PI of the Infant Brain Imaging EEG and Eye tracking study. She also co-leads the ARIA IMPACT Network Clinical Coordinating Center. She has published over 160 peer-reviewed manuscripts with funding from NIH, the Department of Defense, and the Simons Foundation. She is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Child Neurology Society’s Martha Bridge Denckla Award.
Wendy Shih
Dr. Wendy Shih has decades of experience working in statistical analysis, data management, coordination, and analysis. She has worked with numerous multisite clinical trials and observational studies under Dr. Connie Kasari and supported several CART-related research studies in data management, statistical analysis, and manuscript preparation. Dr. Shih will be responsible for site oversight of data processing, curation, and analysis activities. She will also be responsible for developing and maintaining the Data Management Plan in coordination with the CCC Data Coordination Director, the Primary DCC, and other IMPACT site Data Managers to coordinate efforts across the Network.