Barbara Wheeler, PhD

USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Barbara Wheeler is the Associate Director of the USC UCEDD affiliated with the University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She has spent much of her career exploring ways to assure access to information and systems by under-represented groups, including individuals with intellectual disabilities and individuals and their families from diverse racial, cultural, and linguistic groups. She is currently Co-PI for an R03 NIH Partners in Research Grant and Co-PI for an NIH Challenge Grant--Partners in Research: Pathways to Translational Research (RC1). Both grants were awarded to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, which is the home of the NIH-funded USC Center for Genomic and Phenomic Studies of Autism (Clara Lajonchere, PI and VP for Clinical Programs, Autism Speaks). These grants focus on increasing the involvement of Latinos with ASD and their families in bio-medical and genetic research on ASD and increasing science literacy in this population, using Fiesta Educativa as a community partner for researchers.