Autism Awareness Month
Dr. Michael Alessandri is the Executive Director of the University of Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-NSU CARD). Dr. Alessandri has been a professor at UM since 1996 and has worked with individuals with autism and their families since 1981 in various capacities. At the University of Miami, Dr. Alessandri, in addition to his other roles, also serves as the Department of Psychology’s Assistant Chairman for Community Outreach and Engagement.
Dr. Alessandri has presented, consulted and published internationally on developing appropriate and effective educational programs for students with autism. In addition, he has received numerous research and service grants and several notable awards within the field including the Autism Society of America’s Wendy F. Miller Autism Professional of the Year Award and National Autism Program of the Year for UM-NSU CARD.
In 2016, Dr. Alessandri was named the Visionary Leader of the Year by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and in 2017, he was recognized by the Dade County Bar Association with the Fostering Inclusion and Diversity Award.
Amy S.F. Lutz’s writing about severe autism has appeared on many platforms, including The Atlantic, Slate, Psychology Today and Spectrum. Her first book, Each Day I Like It Better: Autism, ECT, and the Treatment of Our Most Impaired Children, was published in 2014, and her new collection of essays, We Walk: Life with Severe Autism, was just released in October 2020.
She is a founding board member of the National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA) and is currently completing her doctorate in the history of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and five children.
Nancy Zaretsky is the Inclusion Specialist in the Planning Department of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the Miami Jewish Abilities Alliance website administrator. Ms. Zaretsky is also a faculty member of the Mailman Center of Child Development Miller School of Medicine where she teaches a unit on Building Family and Professional Collaboration & Interprofessional Teams in the Graduate Fellowship Program Leadership Development in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. Prior to this position, Ms. Zaretsky served for six years as the Chair of the Constituency Board of the University Miami-Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD).
Over her career, she has initiated shadow programs for children with disabilities, served on many community boards and ran an Applied Behavioral Analysis home program for an early learner with autism. She has lived in Miami for more than 30 years and has three grown children who love politics, art and film, including her son on the Autistic Spectrum.
