Print

The Florida Senate Committee on Education PreK-12 unanimously supported a bill aimed to help people with autism secure more opportunities to join the workforce on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Amy Wetherby, director of the FSU College of Medicine's Autism Institute, addressed the committee - the first of three committee stops for the bill - in support of the proposed legislation. She told the committee that the bill is a "really, really important as a step" in employing people with autism.

"I think one of the most important things in the life of a person with autism is to get a job," said Wetherby, one of the nation's foremost authorities on the neurological and developmental disorder. "It improves their outcomes as adults. The best outcomes are associated with employment in terms of mental health outcomes, in terms of wellbeing and in terms of quality of life."
 

 

Print

FSU College of Medicine Associate Professor Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., a developmental neuropharmacologist and behavioral neuroscientist, has weighed in a study that raises questions about the impact exposure to microplastics is have on health.

"Initial indications from research studies in people, as well as model organisms like isolated cells, zebrafish and rodents, suggest that microplastic exposures contribute to increased risk of serious health conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases," Stanwood said. "It's tool son to quantify the exact degree of those increased risks."