Receive Outreach Magazine
and other helpful information
Research & Medical Affairs
Discover our various sources of informationResearch Team
Raun Melmed, M.D.
SARRC Co-founder and Medical Director
Raun D. Melmed, M.D., is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician and director of the Melmed Center in Scottsdale, Ariz. He is also an adjunct senior researcher at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. Dr. Melmed earned his medical degree at the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa, and completed his residency in pediatrics at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. He also completed a fellowship at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, where he was an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
Christopher J. Smith, Ph.D.
Research Director
Dr. Smith is an experimental psychologist with an expertise in the diagnosis of autism for genetic research. Chris was formerly the assistant director of Family Studies at the Seaver Autism Research Center, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. For the past decade his work has focused on identifying components of autism that may be shared among siblings that have an autism spectrum disorder. More recently, his work has included assessments of family members who do not have an autistic disorder but may have specific personality traits that are related to components of autism. Such familial traits may assist the identification of genes that are associated with this complex disorder. As Director of Research at SARRC, Dr. Smith will be developing a large scale family study to continue his work in this area.
Terri Grebe, M.D.
Research Consultant, Co-Investigator
Dr. Grebe is a clinical geneticist with the Children's Health Center Phoenix Genetics Program at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. She evaluates and treats children with genetic conditions, including birth defects and developmental abnormalities. She has a particular interest in craniofacial and skeletal anomalies, as well as neurogenetic disorders, specifically autism. She is a co-investigator in a genetic study of autism with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC), where she serves as a research consultant.
Sue Stephens, M.D.
Research Consultant
As a pediatrician, Dr. Stephens's career has focused on advocating for and treating children with underserved medical and social needs such as children with autism and those suffering from the consequences of poverty, homelessness and child abuse.
Sharman Ober-Reynolds, MSN, RN, C-FNP
Research Coordinator
Sharman Ober-Reynolds is a family nurse practitioner and research coordinator for SARRC. She coordinates and supports studies designed to determine the underlying cause(s) and best interventions for the treatment of autism. Through the administration of standardized assessments, Ms. Ober-Reynolds verifies eligibility for research involving family linkage, association and gene expression in autism as well as the use of novel psychopharmacological agents in the treatment of autism. She facilitates collaborative research projects with the Translational Genomic Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix and the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) in Los Angeles.