Co-Founder & President Autism Science Foundation
Alison Singer is Co-Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding innovative autism research and supporting the needs of people with autism. As the mother of a 20-year-old daughter with autism and legal guardian of her older brother with autism, she is a natural advocate. Since 2007, Singer has served on the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which is charged with writing an annual strategic plan to guide federal spending for autism research. She currently serves on the executive boards of the Yale Child Study Center, the Seaver Autism Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Marcus Autism Center at Emory University, and the University of North Carolina Autism Research Center, as well as on the external advisory board of the CDC’s Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, and the New York State Immunization Advisory Committee. In addition, Singer serves on the board of directors of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) and chairs the INSAR Communications Committee. In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics named her an “autism champion.” In 2017 she received the INSAR “Outstanding Research Advocate” award and in 2018 she received the New York Families for Autistic Children Research Advocacy Award.
Prior to founding the Autism Science Foundation in 2009, she served as executive vice president of Autism Speaks and as a vice president at NBC. She graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. In her free time, she enjoys crossfit, kickboxing, and judging high school debate tournaments.
