Health Secretary Kennedy names 21 new members to US autism advisory panel

Jan 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday named 21 new members to a federal panel that guides national autism policy, saying the group will help advance research and improve care for people with autism.

The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is a federal advisory committee, which brings together government officials, scientists and public members to coordinate federal efforts and provide advice to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on issues related to autism spectrum disorder.

Health Secretary Kennedy said the new appointments reflect President Donald Trump's push to modernize how the government studies and addresses autism.

"President Trump directed us to bring autism research into the 21st century," Secretary Kennedy said in a statement. He added that the new members are experienced specialists who will "deliver the answers Americans deserve."

The new appointees include physicians, researchers, parents of children with autism as well as autism advocates, according to the HHS.

Among the newly appointed members are Sylvia Fogel, an instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, John Rodakis, founder of the nonprofit N of One: Autism Research Foundation, and Caden Larson, a non-speaking adult with autism.

Kennedy has declared the rising rates of autism in the U.S. — now estimated at 1 in 31 children by age 8 — to be an epidemic and has pledged to find some answers behind its cause as well as cures.

At a White House event last year, Kennedy, Trump and other health officials backed leucovorin as an autism treatment. They also warned against the use of Tylenol by pregnant women, saying studies suggested a link to autism. Health experts and medical groups called that warning dangerous and without sound scientific basis.