Principal Investigators
Dr. Leslie Neely, PhD, BCBA-D, LBA
Principle Investigator
Dr. Neely is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Coordinator for the UTSA Applied Behavior Analysis Program. Dr. Neely is also a Doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and serves as the UTSA Director of the SAABA research consortium. She earned a Master's degree in Educational Psychology (emphasis in Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis) and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology (emphasis in Special Education and Applied Behavior Analysis) from Texas A&M University. Dr. Neely's research focuses on the application of applied behavior analysis to the functional assessment and treatment of challenging behavior for individuals with autism and developmental disabilities. Her research also evaluates innovative treatment models to improve the acquisition and sustained use of evidence-based practices by caregivers, teachers, and other interventionists working with individuals with developmental disabilities. She has 34 peer reviewed articles focused on improving the lives of children with ASD. Finally, she has provided community-based caregiver trainings for families of children with ASD for the past four years and currently directs a caregiver-directed treatment grant that has served 550 families over two years. |
Dr. Melissa Svoboda, MDCo-Principle Investigator
Dr. Svoboda is a Board-Certified Child Neurologist who specializes in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and is Medical Director of the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio’s (CHofSA) Comprehensive Autism Program and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. She obtained her MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and also performed her pediatrics residency at UTHSCSA. She completed a predoctoral fellowship at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins University in ASD research. Her Child Neurology/Neurodevelopmental Disabilities fellowship was completed at Oregon Health and Science University. She has 9 peer-reviewed articles focusing on various childhood neurological conditions, including ASD. She has presented numerous scientific posters and given more than 20 local and national presentations – most of these on ASDs. Dr. Svoboda is also a rotation director for the Pediatric Residency developmental rotation at CHofSA and has won numerous teaching awards including 2017 CHofSA Teacher of the Year and the 2018 American Academy of Neurology’s AB Baker Teacher Recognition Award. She is also recipient of the San Antonio Business Journal’s Healthcare Heroes Award for 2018 for Hospital-Based Physicians. |
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Dr. Amarie Carnett, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA
Co-Principle Investigator Dr. Carnett is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology for the University of Texas San Antonio Applied Behavior Analysis Program (effective August 2018). She is a doctorate level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). Dr. Carnett initially trained in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) at Texas State University during her master’s program and is a former special education teacher and behavior specialist. She completed her doctorate degree in Educational Psychology, specializing in ABA and communication interventions at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She has 8 years of experience working in the field of ABA and Autism/Developmental Disabilities. Her research is focused on developing interventions to help children with ASD (ASD) to develop autonomy within their environments and increase their overall quality of life. She believes this is best achieved by developing interventions that target issues associated to generalization of skills, as well as ensuring social significance through stakeholder participation. Her research interest can be classified into two overlapping categories: (1) communication interventions, and (2) adaptive functioning. Dr. Carnett has 24 peer reviewed articles, 15 related to communication interventions, and 5 related to adaptive functioning. Her collaborative research extends internationally with projects at the University of Canterbury and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Dr. Carnett will serve as the project evaluator. |
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Dr. Andrew Martinez, PhD, LP, LSSP
Lead Researcher Dr. Martinez is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Martinez received his Doctorate degree in School Psychology from Texas A&M University. He completed a Neuropsychology/Psychology fellowship at Cook Children’s Medical Center. He is a Licensed Psychologist and a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology. Dr. Martinez’s primary role at The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio (CHofSA) is conducting neuropsychological evaluations with children who have a neurological or neurodevelopmental disorder. He is also the Clinical Director of the Comprehensive Autism Program at CHofSA and oversees an evidence-based social skills intervention for teenagers with ASD. Dr. Martinez also serves as the Training Director for all psychology students at CHofSA, and he teaches and lectures to pediatric residents about neuropsychological and psychological evaluations. Dr. Martinez’s research interest is in identifying neuropsychological profiles in children. He is also interested in ASD research, especially whether evidence-based interventions lead to quantifiable neurological changes. Dr. Martinez also collaborates with numerous other subspecialists at CHofSA on their respective research projects. He has authored or co-authored 14 professional presentations and posters at regional and national conferences. |
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Dr. William Bosl, PhD
Dr. Bosl is visiting faculty at Boston Children’s Hospital and Visiting Associate Professor of Pediatrics for Harvard Medical School. He is also an Associate Professor of Health Informatics and Clinical Psychology at the University of San Francisco, where he is also the director of the master’s degree in Health Informatics. His expertise focuses in clinical neurophysiology and neurodiagnostics, with specific focus on infant biomarkers for autism and other neurodevelopmental pathology. In May 2018, Dr. Bosl, together with his colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital released a study in the journal Scientific Reports that predicts occurrences of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) with greater than 95% accuracy from EEG measurements taken at or before 9 months of age. These findings pave way for critical early intervention and treatment. |
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Dr. Jessica Graber, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Lead Researcher Jessica Graber, PhD, is the clinical director at the Autism Treatment Center, San Antonio. Dr. Graber earned her doctorate in School Psychology, with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), in December 2016. Her psychology internship consisted of training school teams, parents, and medical providers in conducting behavioral assessments and treatments, across school, home, outpatient clinic, and inpatient settings. Her postdoctoral fellowship involved providing parent training in basic principles and applications of ABA, teaching classes to master’s students in ABA and school psychology, and consulting with the BCBAs at ATC San Antonio. After completing her fellowship in the summer of 2018, Dr. Graber began a full-time position as the lead clinician at The Autism Treatment Center, San Antonio. Dr. Graber has ten years of experience providing ABA services, both domestically and abroad. Dr. Graber’s research is focused on improving services for individuals with developmental disabilities and those who engage in severe challenging behavior. Dr. Graber serves as the ATC Director of the San Antonio Applied Behavior Analysis Project. |
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Katie Cantrell, M.A., BCBA, LBA
Project Manager Katie Cantrell is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Licensed Behavior Analyst in the state of Texas. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Special Education from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Arts in Behavioral Assessment and Intervention at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Katie has provided ABA therapy to individuals of diverse ages and ability levles, but focuses in Autism Spectrum Disorder. She currenty lives in San Antonio with her dog, Winston. |
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Erin Santos, M.A., RBT
Case Manager Erin Santos is a Behavior Therapist who earned her Masters in Educational Psychology with an emphasis on Behavior Assessment and Intervention at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Erin has experience providing ABA therapy to individuals in a variety of settings (i.e., school, home, community, and outpatient clinic) and providing parent/teacher consultation. Prior to joining project PLAAY, Erin led a teachers’ training program on applying principles of ABA to teaching and classroom interventions. She currently lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband and their three boys. |
Please note that this work was supported in whole or part by a grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The opinions and conclusions expressed in this document are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of the THECB.