On June 23, 2024, Dr. Adriana Di Martino, research director of the Autism Center at the Child Mind Institute, received the 2024 Open Science Award from the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM). This prestigious award honors her significant and sustained contributions to open science in the realm of autism research.
Through her pioneering work in brain mapping and biomarker discovery, Dr. Di Martino has redefined the landscape of autism research and made groundbreaking strides in understanding autism-related brain connectivity.
In particular, she has created and led the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE). Since its launch in 2012, ABIDE has collected and shared imaging data from over 2,200 individuals, half with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the other half with typical controls. This resource has been instrumental in advancing biomarker discovery and has facilitated 718 publications across 190 journals. The extensive use of ABIDE data has dramatically increased sample sizes and improved the robustness of autism research findings across the field.
Dr. Di Martino’s impact extends beyond data aggregation. She has demonstrated how to effectively utilize ABIDE’s vast datasets to explore disparities in ASD-related brain connectivity and conduct pioneering studies on sex differences in the autism connectome. Her collaborations have propelled advances in disorder classification and neurosubtyping, reinforcing the importance of reproducibility and analytic rigor.
Looking to the future, Dr. Di Martino is spearheading efforts to unify existing large-scale ASD neuroimaging data collections for mega-analysis and replication. Her work aims to address critical challenges in biological psychiatry, enhancing data harmonization and enabling unprecedented scale in autism research.
Dr. Di Martino is the third Child Mind Institute team member to receive this honor since its inception in 2020, underscoring the institution’s dedication to advancing research through open science.
This award follows on the heels of Dr. Di Martino’s keynote presentation at the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) 2024 Annual Conference in Melbourne, Australia. In her presentation, “Mapping the Autism Brain Connectome: Unraveling Heterogeneity Through Data Sharing and Open Science,” Dr. Di Martino highlighted the acceleration of research, analytical innovations, and understanding of autism neurosubtypes advanced through open science and innovation. To watch an interview with Dr. Di Martino, click here.
Congratulations to Dr. Di Martino on these remarkable achievements!
