An annual tradition, UMMS will turn blue for autism

Provider fair, speakers, film presentation lead into lighting of Medical School building

March 28, 2012

UMass Medical School will again be joining Autism Speaks’ campaign to Light It Up Blue in celebration of World Autism Awareness Day on Monday, April 2. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., the front of the Medical School building will be lit with blue spotlights, as will hundreds of iconic landmarks around the world, in an effort to help shine a light on autism.

In conjunction with the lighting, the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is hosting a provider fair for individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families. The fair starts at 5 p.m. in the Faculty Conference Room, and will be followed by a short speaking program at 6 p.m. leading into the showing of the movie “The Black Balloon,” a 2008 award-winning Australian film about of a family coping with autism.

Speakers include Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, chair and professor of psychiatry; Terence R. Flotte, MD, the Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medicine, executive deputy chancellor, provost, dean of the School of Medicine; Jean Frazier, MD, the Robert M. and Shirley S. Siff Chair in Autism and professor of psychiatry and pediatrics; Amy Weinstock, director of the Autism Insurance Resource Center; and Sue Loring, executive director of the Autism Resource Center of Central Massachusetts.

See last year’s lighting in this video.