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Lurie Autism Institute

Group of four adults seated at a table signing documents with blue, green, and silver colored balloons in the background.

(Left to right) Madeline Bell, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Jeffrey Lurie, CEO and chairman of the Philadelphia Eagles; Cathy Lurie, president of the Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation; and Jonathan A. Epstein, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine and Executive Vice President of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System. (Photo credit: Eddy Marenco)

A gift from the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, the Eagles Autism Foundation, and the Lurie Family Foundation (Jeffrey Lurie’s family foundation) to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) and the Perelman School of Medicine (Penn Medicine) will establish the Lurie Autism Institute whose mission is to drive discoveries having a transformative impact on those living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This investment will leverage CHOP and Penn Medicine’s strengths in translational research aimed at seeking answers to the most challenging and important questions around ASD. Rooted in a collaboration between world-renowned centers in pediatric research and academic medicine, the Institute will become a global hub for autism research connecting scientists, clinicians, and families.

Powered by Penn Medicine and CHOP’s long history of partnering on transformative breakthroughs for the care of both children and adults, the Lurie Autism Institute is poised to make fresh discoveries that will reshape how we understand and treat autism. To accomplish this, the Institute will:

  • Develop a better understanding of the genetics of complex biological processes and how they impact the functioning of the nervous system across the lifespan including how environmental factors affect human development.
  • Explore why some individuals with autism have minimal speaking ability while others have complex social, motor, and learning difficulties.
  • Use artificial intelligence to analyze large-scale biological and behavioral data to identify new treatment targets and existing drugs that may be repurposed for ASD and the potential of autism-related genes to yield new therapeutic targets.
  • On the basis of these basic scientific discoveries, design and conduct clinical trials that will provide new behavioral and pharmacological interventions for ASD.

In addition to these scientific undertakings, the Lurie Autism Institute will offer:

  • a certificate program in autism bioscience to expose a new generation of PhD trainees and postdocs to exciting scientific problems at the frontier of autism science.
  • an annual International Symposium where the newly established Lurie Autism Institute prize will be awarded to an outstanding leader with a record of espousing creative and fresh ways of conceptualizing autism.