• Professional Training & Research
• The Help Group – UCLA Autism Research Alliance

Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson

Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson is Director of The Help Group – UCLA Autism Research Alliance, a collaborative research initiative dedicated to developing and expanding applied clinical research in the education and treatment of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Laugeson is also an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Director of the UCLA PEERS Program, an outpatient clinic providing parent-assisted social skills training for adolescents and young adults with ASD and other social impairments.

As co-developer of an evidence-based social skills program for teens with ASD known as PEERS, Dr. Laugeson has presented her groundbreaking research at international conferences in the United States, England, Australia, Canada, Italy and Finland. Her pioneering work has also been featured on national and international media outlets including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, People Magazine, CBS, NBC and Channel 4 in the UK.

Dr. Jan Blacher

Dr. Jan Blacher is the Founding Director of SEARCH, a family autism resource center newly established at UC Riverside. Dr. Blacher’s NIH-funded research, which is longitudinal in nature, focuses on the family context of children and adolescents with and without developmental disabilities, including predictors of later psychopathology. She has published on family coping in Anglo and Latino families and on aspects of syndrome specificity and parental well-being. Currently, she is directing a longitudinal study, funded by IES, of successful transitions to school for children on the autism spectrum.

Dr. Jeff Wood

Dr. Jeff Wood is a clinical child psychologist with a joint appointment as Associate Professor in the Division of Child Psychiatry and the Division of Psychological Studies in Education at UCLA. He is also a faculty member of the UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment. He received a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the UCLA Psychology Department, specializing in clinical trials of cognitive behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety disorders and OCD. As a doctoral student of Dr. Marian Sigman's and a psychology intern at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, he acquired expertise in the assessment and behavioral treatment of school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders. Dr. Wood was the PI of a CART Pilot Grant in 2004. Dr. Wood has also been the recipient of several awards from NIMH, AERA, and UCLA, and has attained multiple grants from NIMH, the Cure Autism Now foundation, Autism Speaks, and the Organization for Autism Research to study cognitive behavioral interventions for school-aged children with autism. His work has been published in well-regarded scientific journals such as Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Developmental Psychology, and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Drawing upon contemporary cognitive science models of memory retrieval competition and cognitive neuroscience models of information processing in autism, Dr. Wood has been developing novel intervention techniques and adapting techniques from other areas of childhood psychopathology (e.g., emotional disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, and habit disorders) in the formation of a comprehensive cognitive behavioral therapy program for school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders and high levels of anxiety. Dr. Wood's research seeks to identify effective treatment methods that improve self-regulation, increase adaptive behaviors in social and academic contexts, and address the varying patterns of symptom expression (e.g., repetitive behaviors) and psychiatric comorbidity (e.g., anxiety, conduct problems) seen in many children with ASD. Dr. Wood is currently Principal Investigator on a study of CBT for children aged 6 to 13 years with autism, with the primary objective of reducing the severity of autism symptoms and increasing children's perspective taking and empathy.

Dr. Jane Tavyev

Y. Jane Tavyev, MD is Director of Pediatric Neurology at Pediatric Services at Cedars-Sinai. She is board certified in Neurology with Special Certification in Child Neurology.

Dr. Tavyev is a member of several professional societies including the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association and the Child Neurology Society.

Dr. Tavyev earned a bachelor's in biochemistry and anthropology from Rice University. She earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Dr. Tavyev performed a residency in pediatrics and a clinical and research fellowship in child neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities at the Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children's Hospital system. Her clinical and research interest was in the area of autism.

Dr. Tavyev speaks Russian and Spanish.

Yasamine Bolourian, M.A., Project Coordinator

Yasamine Bolourian, M.A. is Project Coordinator for The Help Group – UCLA Autism Research Alliance. As Project Coordinator, Yasamine manages the daily activities of the Alliance labs, trains and supervises all research assistants, and oversees the recruitment for studies conducted through the Alliance.  Yasamine also works closely with staff and faculty at The Help Group to support the objectives of The Help Group – UCLA Autism Research Alliance. Yasamine attended Boston University where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 2009. She received a Master of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology in 2011. Yasamine’s clinical research interests relate to social skills treatments, particularly for adolescents diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, and/or Depression.

Melissa Wasserman, Senior Research Assistant 

Melissa Wasserman is senior research assistant for The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson. Melissa works with the research team on the scoring and verification of research data and assists in the maintenance of protocols used in research files. She attended the University of California, Santa Barbara where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies. Melissa is currently attending Pepperdine University to obtain her Master of Arts degree in Psychology. Her current clinical research interests include the role of peer conflict in developing friendships among youth with ASD, and the impact of parental marital status on adolescents with ASD and problem behaviors.

Daniel Janulaitis, M.A., Research Assistant 

Daniel Janulaitis, M.A. is a research assistant at The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson and works on the scoring and verification of research data. Daniel graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 2009. He completed his Master of Arts in Psychology from Pepperdine University in the 2012. His current clinical research interests include developmental disabilities across the lifespan.

Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Research Assistant 

Kathryn Fitzpatrick is a research assistant for The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson where she works on the scoring and verification of research data for various studies under the Alliance. Kathryn attended Lynn University where received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. She is currently attending Pepperdine University to obtain her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Kathryn’s clinical and research interests include the investigation of transitions into young adulthood among individuals with ASD. 

Tiana Bayrami, M.A., Research Assistant 

Tiana Bayrami, M.A., is a research assistant at The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson, where her duties include recruiting participants with autism spectrum disorders and/or intellectual disabilities for current projects. Tiana received her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2012. In addition to her research interests in autism, her clinical interests include using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy methods, particularly with women who have varied psychiatric disorders including borderline personality, major depressive, generalized anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders.

Rohini Bagrodia, Research Assistant 

Rohini Bagrodia is a research assistant at The Help Group-UCLA Autism Research Alliance under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson where she assists in the scoring and verification of various psychological batteries included in the research studies conducted through the Alliance. Rohini attended Cornell University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 2011. She completed a thesis analyzing the immediate early gene expression in the anterior thalamus, retrosplenial cortex, and the hippocampus during an olfactory learning task. Rohini’s primary research interest centers on understanding the neurodevelopmental impairments of learning and memory disorders.