Pamela Feliciano, Ph.D.

Pamela Feliciano, Ph.D., serves as the Scientific Director of SPARK (www.SPARKForAutism.org) and is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s Hospital. SPARK is the world’s largest research study of people with autism and seeks to accelerate autism research through a vibrant and informative online platform that meaningfully engages individuals with autism and their families and connects them to interested researchers. As Scientific Director of SPARK, Feliciano oversees the return of all autism-related and secondary genetic results in SPARK and has a senior leadership role in the recruitment and retention of participants and the research priorities of the program. She also manages the review process for SPARK and Simons Searchlight’s Research Match platform. Previously, Feliciano worked as a senior editor at Nature Genetics, where she was responsible for managing the peer review process of research publications in all areas of genetics. While at Nature Genetics, Feliciano was engaged with the scientific community by giving talks and workshops on editorial decision-making at academic institutes worldwide. Feliciano holds a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. from New York University, and a Ph.D. in developmental biology from Stanford University. She has a teenage son with autism.