Conference Registration Now Open!
WE'RE BACK, IN PERSON!
October 14-16, 2022
Hilton Orange County - Costa Mesa, California
in partnership with
Meet Our Experts
Anju Usman Singh, MD, FAAFP, ABIHM, FMAPS
Anju Usman Singh, MD, FAAFP, ABIHM, FMAPS
Dan Rossignol, MD, FAAFP
Dr. Dan Rossignol received his Doctorate of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia and completed his residency in family medicine at the University of Virginia. Coming from an academic background, Dr. Rossignol searched the medical literature looking for a solution after both of his children were diagnosed with autism. He has made it his mission to research and publish in autism. Since 2006, he has 53 papers, abstracts, editorials, and book chapters concerning autism and related conditions. Dr. Rossignol is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (FAAFP) and a Fellow of the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs (FMAPS).
Dan Rossignol, MD, FAAFP
Dane Fliedner, M.D., MPH, FAAP, IFMCP, FMAPS, ABoIHM
Dr. Fliedner is Chief Medical Officer at Lighthouse Complex Care. He is a board-certified general pediatrician with a diverse medical background before starting his functional medicine practice. He became interested in integrative medicine when his children were struggling with chronic illnesses that were not being adequately addressed by the conventional allopathic model. He is an Institute of Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner, a Fellow of the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs (MAPS) as well as Board Certified from the American Board of Holistic, Integrative Medicine. He currently practices in an urgent care setting, as well as consulting with families for complex medical conditions including autism, asthma, allergies, gut imbalances, and more. Dr. Fliedner is fluent in Spanish.
Dane Fliedner, M.D., MPH, FAAP, IFMCP, FMAPS, ABoIHM
Darin Ingles, ND, FMAPS
Dr. Ingels is a respected leader in natural medicine with numerous publications, international lectures and almost 30 years experience in the healthcare field. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in medical technology from Purdue University and his Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Ingels completed a residency program at the Bastyr Center for Natural Health. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Ingels worked as a clinical microbiologist/immunologist at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL. He is a Fellow in good standing with the American Academy of Environmental Medicine and a Fellow with the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs.
Dr. Ingels has been published extensively and is a former medical journalist and contributing author to Healthnotes Newswire, a medical report of the latest journal articles on nutritional and botanical medicine. He has also written a chapter on allergy desensitization for autistic children in “Cutting Edge Therapies for Autism” (Skyhorse, 2014). Dr. Ingels is the author of The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Auto-Immune Response and Beat Lyme Disease (Avery, 2018), which covers an integrative, natural approach to the treatment and management of Lyme disease.
Dr. Ingels’ practice focuses on environmental medicine with special emphasis on chronic immune dysfunction, including autism, Lyme disease, allergies, asthma, PANDAS, recurrent or persistent infections and other genetic or acquired immune problems. His practice is comprised of both children and adults. He uses diet, nutrients, herbs, homeopathy and immunotherapy to help his patients achieve better health.
Darin Ingles, ND, FMAPS
Darlene Hanson
Darlene Hanson has her Masters of Arts in Communication Disorders from Whittier College in California. She is currently the Director of Communication Services with the non-profit REACH, in Southern California. Darlene works with individuals, their support teams, and their families to build communication. Her professional experiences have included work in the public schools and private practice. As a speech and language pathologist Darlene conducts assessments in the areas of speech, language, and augmentative communication. She has been working with individuals with severe communication impairments since her under graduate program at Chapman College (1980). Darlene has included Facilitated Communication Training in her assessments and practice since 1991. Over the course of the years she has taught at Chapman University, presented at local, state and national conferences, and conducted trainings on Autism, Augmentative Communication strategies, and Facilitated Communication Training throughout the United States. Through REACH, formerly known as WAPADH, Darlene has been instrumental in organizing multiple national conferences on Facilitated Communication known as the “West Coast Symposium...”. She is also one of a group of Master Trainers for Facilitated Communication Training, and assisted with the writing of the Best Practice Standards for Facilitated Communication Training distributed through the Institute for Communication and Inclusion of Syracuse University. Darlene has co-authored research and articles on communication for those with severe communication impairments, and is a co-author of Investigation of Authorship in Facilitated Communication, (Journal of Mental Retardation, Aug. 1996).
Darlene Hanson
Devin Houston, PhD
Devin Houston, PhD
Elizabeth McCoy, Esq
Elizabeth McCoy has been a licensed Attorney in California since 1997, practicing primarily in the area of special needs trusts, conservatorship, and estate planning for families who have a child with Autism or other special needs. Mrs. McCoy earned her Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Law. During law school, she was the Jan Adam Zuckerman scholarship recipient, and a staff member for the Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law. Since 1988, Mrs. McCoy has also been a licensed Landscape Architect. Prior to practicing law, she produced landscape architectural plans for Disney theme parks and 5-star Ritz Carlton and Marriott hotels throughout the world. Mrs. McCoy has been a proud supporter of TACA since 2006. She lives in North San Diego County with her husband Mike and two sons Atticus and August.
Elizabeth McCoy, Esq
Erica Peirson, ND
Dr. Peirson is a Naturopathic physician who has been practicing for 15 years. She specializes in using a functional medical approach to optimize the health and development of children with Down syndrome as well as other genetic and neurodevelopmental conditions. She is the mother of a healthy, thriving 13 year old boy who happens to have mosaic Down syndrome and has benefitted from her expertise. She has lectured globally to share with others the many ways she helps her patients thrive, in addition to helping patients privately all over the world through telehealth consults.
Erica Peirson, ND
Glenn Wilhelm
Glenn Wilhelm has been the V.P. of Business Development with the IonCleanse by A Major Difference since 2011. Glenn provides training for practitioners on how to integrate the IonCleanse into their practice to help them improve clients outcomes. Glenn has also worked with over a thousand customers within the ASD community on how to maximize the benefits of the IonCleanse by AMD system for their child.
Glenn Wilhelm
Glenn Wilhelm
James Williams is an adult with autism. He was diagnosed at the age of 3, in 1991. He graduated from Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, in 2010. Today, he travels the United States lecturing on autism, and is the author of three books, OUT TO GET JACK, THE H.A.L. EXPERIMENT, and WHEN GARY COMES TO PLAY. He is also a musician that has performed at anime conventions such as DaishoCon, MetroCon, and KitsuneKon, and other venues such as National Hobo Convention, and has been the beneficiary of many biomedical interventions throughout his life.
James Williams
Jared Skowron, ND
Jared Skowron, ND
Julie Buckley, MD, IFMCP
Julie Buckley, MD, IFMCP
James Adams, PhD
James Adams, PhD
Julie Logan, DC
Dr. Julie Logan, DC practices with Dr. Anju Usman at True Health Medical Center in Naperville, IL. She is a fully MAPS trained and certified physician and specializes in working with children with the symptoms of Autism, ADD/HD, PANDAS/PANS, food sensitivities, thyroid problems, methylation defects, GI issues, allergies, and environmental illnesses. She applies both biomedical as well as chiropractic principles of restoring optimal health to her patients. She has successfully battled some of these conditions and problems in her own health as well as resolving the symptoms of autism in one of her own children. This has given her a heart to help others who are suffering from the same.
Julie Logan, DC
Katie Dahlgren, ND
Dr. Katie Dahlgren is a board-certified Naturopathic Physician. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology/pre-med with a minor in psychology at Gonzaga University in 2003. She then completed the vigorous 4-year doctorate program in naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University, graduating in 2007. Dr. Dahlgren completed a 3-year residency with Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, Ph.D. and Nazanin Kimiai, ND, L.Ac. at Comprehensive Medical Center. She then worked alongside Dr. Klinghardt as an associate and senior clinician at Sophia Health Institute for an additional 4 years. Dr. Dahlgren recently worked with Dr. Amy Derksen at Holistic Healing Arts from 2015 through May of 2021. She currently works at Comprehensive Medical Center in Kirkland, WA.
Dr. Dahlgren specializes in the treatment of chronic infections and neurological disorders in patients of all ages. She has 14 years of experience providing highly individualized care to patients with complex chronic illness. Her protocols include drainage therapies, detoxification support, herbal medicine, homeopathy, nutritional support, dietary interventions, energy medicine, pharmaceutical medications and lifestyle recommendations. She has extensive experience with a variety of injection techniques and IV therapies.
She loves collaborating with her colleagues to design protocols that are tailored to the patient’s health goals and lifestyle. She strives to create and maintain a therapeutic relationship of mutual respect where patients can feel heard and valued. She is committed to lifelong learning and makes it a priority to frequently attend conferences and lectures that benefit her patients through exposure to experts in the rapidly growing and evolving field of integrative medicine.
Katie Dahlgren, ND
Katherine Reid, PhD
Katherine Reid, PhD
Lisa Ackerman
A native of California, Lisa has worked in the retail and real estate site selection for almost 20 years. Lisa was a co-founder of Integration Technologies and AnySite Software which was sold to MapInfo Corporation in 2003. Working with customers like Wal-Mart, Burger King and Shell Oil, Lisa has consulted and sold large solutions for planning and managing the site selection process.
In 1999, Lisa and her husband Glen received the news that their 2 ½ year old son had been diagnosed with autism. At the time it was the recommendation from multiple physicians that the family find “institutional placement” for their son. Refusing to even consider this, they began their research to find answers for their son. One year later they launched a parent support group in their home with 10 families who were living with autism. As a result of this dedicated group, TACA was founded.
In March 2004, Lisa retired from her real estate career to assume a full-time volunteer role as Executive Director for TACA. She transitioned from volunteer to a full time professional capacity in July 2008 managing a national non-profit organization headquartered in Irvine, Calif. From a grass roots beginning in Southern California, under Lisa’s leadership approximately $16MM has been raised to help fund TACA’s mission and over 55,000 families across the nation have been served.
Lisa Ackerman
Mark Woodsmall, Esq
Mark Woodsmall, founding attorney of Woodsmall Law Group, PC, practices exclusively in the areas of Special Education, Regional Center Matters, Special Needs Trust Planning and Conservatorship. In 2006, Mr. Woodsmall joined the faculty of the USC Gould School of Law as a Professor Adjunct, teaching in the area of special education law. He also served as the teaching attorney in the Special Education Advocacy Training Project – Los Angeles. The SEAT Project, an innovative nationwide advocacy training project, is funded under grant from the US Department of Education and administered through COPAA, the Council of Parent Attorneys & Advocates and the USC Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles). Mr. Woodsmall sits on the UCLA Center for Autism Research & Treatment (CART) Community Advisory Committee. Mr. Woodsmall is a national lecturer on parent’s rights under the IDEA, Section 504 and the Lanterman Act. Mr. Woodsmall was an invited presenter at the 2012, 2013 and 2014 COPAA Conferences (national conference of student attorneys) in Florida, New Mexico and California. Mr. Woodsmall has been recognized for his work in the field in 2012 as the recipient of the National Ambassador for the Children Award from Casa Colina and in 2013 with the prestigious Stanley I. Greenspan Humanitarian Award. In 2014 Mr & Mrs. Woodsmall formed the Spero Project, a 501C3, non-profit organization dedicated to work training opportunities for young adults (16 to 25 years of age) with developmental disabilities.
Mark Woodsmall, Esq
Robert K Naviaux, MD, PhD
Dr. Naviaux is the founder and co-director of the Mitochondrial and Metabolic Disease Center (MMDC), and Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology, and Genetics at UCSD. He directs a core laboratory for metabolomics at UCSD. He is the co-founder and a former president of the Mitochondrial Medicine Society (MMS), and a founding associate editor of the journal Mitochondrion. He is an internationally known expert in human genetics, inborn errors of metabolism, metabolomics, and mitochondrial medicine. He is the discoverer of the cause of Alpers syndrome—the oldest Mendelian form of mitochondrial disease—and the developer of the first DNA test to diagnose it. His lab also discovered the first mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations that cause genetic forms of autism. Dr. Naviaux's lab has developed a number of advanced technologies like biocavity laser spectroscopy and mtDNA mutation detection by mass spectrometry. He is a Salk-trained virologist, and molecular and cell biologist, the inventor of the popular pCL retroviral gene transfer vectors, and was trained at NIH in tumor immunology and natural killer cell biology. In 2011, he received a Trailblazer Award from Autism Speaks. His 2013 paper reporting preclinical studies on the role of purinergic signaling and the cell danger response in autism was ranked the #1 most-viewed report of 2013 on the Simons Foundation autism web site. He is currently the director of the first FDA-approved clinical trial to study the safety and efficacy of antipurinergic drug therapy using suramin as a new treatment for autism.
Robert K Naviaux, MD, PhD
Sarkis K Mazmanian
Medical microbiologist Sarkis K. Mazmanian is leading research into how the gut microbiome impacts and communicates with the immune and nervous systems. His work is specifically focused on how this two-way internal communication highway, known as the “gut-brain axis,” influences complex diseases of the brain, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Sarkis has received numerous awards including the MacArthur Foundation “Genius” award and Discover Magazine’s “Best Brains in Science.” Currently the Luis & Nelly Soux Professor of Microbiology in the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, Sarkis is also a founder of two biotech companies and the proud mentor of countless students and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to successful independent careers in medicine, industry, and academia.
Sarkis K Mazmanian
Scarlett K. vonThenen
Scarlett K. vonThenen
Theoharis C. Theoharides, BA, MS, MPhil, PhD, MD, FAAAAI
Dr. Theoharides is Professor of Pharmacology and Internal Medicine, as well as Director of Molecular Immunopharmacology and Drug Discovery, in the Department of Immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine. .He first showed that mast cells, known for causing allergic reactions, are critical for inflammation, especially in the brain, and are involved in a number of inflammatory conditions that worsen with stress such as allergies, asthma, autism spectrum disorder, eczema, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome, migraines, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome and psoriasis. Dr. Theoharides is also the Scientific Director of Algonot, LLC
Theoharis C. Theoharides, BA, MS, MPhil, PhD, MD, FAAAAI
Tim Adams, Esq
Tim is the President and CEO of Adams & Associates APLC, a disability rights law firm. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine and Juris Doctorate degree from Pepperdine University School of Law. He is admitted to practice as an attorney in California, in the United States District Courts—Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of California, as well as before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He has served as an adjunct professor and Associate Director of the Special Education Advocacy Clinic, Pepperdine University School of Law.
He has served as a Board member for the University of California, Irvine Child Development School and The Children’s School, and is an Ambassador for The Autism Community in Action (TACA). He has also served on the Board of Advisors for an education data startup called Schoolie, Inc., (acquired by Great Schools) an online tool which helps families across the nation make informed choices on K-12 education.
In 2017, he co-founded Walls that Unite, a non-profit that provides educational experiences in low-income communities in the United States and Mexico.
Tim is also a member of Gen Next, an invitation-only organization of successful individuals dedicated to learning about and becoming engaged with the most pressing challenges facing future generations — including global security, education reform, and economic opportunity. The collective influence of its national network of civic-minded leaders empowers bold and innovative solutions to these challenges.
