Our Mission: Precision Medicine in Autism

PRISMA is a multidisciplinary initiative at the University of Alberta integrating research, education, clinical care, and community engagement to advance precision medicine in autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. We aim to understand the unique and diverse worlds of individuals on the autism spectrum and with neurodevelopmental conditions, and to support their health through genomics across research, clinical care, education, and community engagement.

Our Team

Daniel Moreno De Luca , Director of PRISMA -PRISMA Research Group

Provides strategic direction to research, clinical, educational, and community initiatives in autism genetics & precision medicine.

Daniel Moreno De Luca, MD, MS

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Director & Principal Investigator
Adult-Child Psychiatry

OUR
TEAM

Meet the PRISMA team advancing precision medicine for autism and neurodevelopmental conditions through education, research, community engagement, and clinical care at the University of Alberta.

Serves as a genetic counselor within PRISMA’s research initiatives, supporting community projects engagement activities, and healthcare delivery through quality improvement projects.

Molly Goldman, MS, CGC

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Genetic Counselor

Julia Heaton

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Genetic Counselor

Provides direct clinical care through the Psychiatric Genetic Counseling Consult service overseen by Dr. Moreno De Luca, and supports large scale healthcare delivery initiatives anchored in our PRISMA quality improvement project.

Keely Vachon

Research Assistant

Supports the 17q12 research project through recruitment, study coordination, and community engagement.

Supports research operations, participant recruitment, and study logistics to ensure effective project implementation

Carrie Best , Project Coordinatior PRISMA Research Group

Carrie Best, MPH

Project Coordinator

Supports research operations, participant recruitment, and study logistics to ensure effective project implementation.

Silvana M Guerrero

Research Assistant

Leads media strategy and develops educational and marketing materials to support PRISMA’s research, education, community engagement, and clinical care initiatives.

Dener Cardoso Melo, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Oversees PRISMA’s autism & genetic testing implementation studies under the direction of Dr. Moreno De Luca, focusing on recruitment, data analysis, and communication and dissemination of results.

Kathya Díaz García

Supports research recruitment, study assessments, and community engagement within Spanish-speaking communities

Master Student

VIRTUAL PRISMA TEAM

Bo & Dina run the PRISMA Library of Life. Bo loves fixing things and collecting old clocks, and Dina likes learning everything about dinosaurs and loves discovering new things in books. The role of these two new members is to help us learn more about genetics and genetic testing in the context of autism spectrum disorders in a fun way.

Their participation in our group is part of an important implementation strategy using media to create a bridge between community and science so that families have readily available information delivered to children and adults alike, in a fun and accessible way, including materials in multiple languages. We hope that these materials will be used to start a conversation with clinicians and empower families to be active participants in their healthcare as it relates to genomics.