Teal W. Benevides, PhD, MS, OTR/L

National Autism Data Center

Augusta - Georgia

My background as an occupational therapist and researcher has centered on the systems and contexts which promote or inhibit access to healthcare for individuals on the autism spectrum and related developmental disabilities, particularly among marginalized groups, including racial/ethnic minorities and those with cooccurring mental health conditions. I have been grant funded from 2013-present to evaluate health outcomes and disparities. The proposed ATRP is benefited by my expertise in health services research evaluating service delivery systems and policies and my ability to promote stakeholder-centric projects that ensure autistic people are central to the research team, as well as my expertise leveraging large data sets including Medicare data. The ATRP would be enhanced through my currently funded work on two different PCORI-funded teams, allowing synergy and involvement of those project stakeholders (PCORI EASC-00241 and PCORI SP-2020C3- 20951), as well as collaborations with organizations through which ATRP products could be disseminated.