Autism Science Foundation was created as a split from Autism Speaks, which assigned a high priority to research into whether vaccination is associated with autism risk, and this high priority had raised concerns among parents and researchers. Alison Singer, a senior executive of Autism Speaks, resigned in January 2009 rather than vote for committing money to new research studies into vaccination and autism. The U.S. Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, of which Singer was a member, voted against committing the research funds; this was contrary to the Autism Speaks policy on vaccine safety research. Singer said: She said that numerous scientific studies have disproved the link first suggested more than a decade ago and that Autism Speaks needs to "move on." Later that year, along with NAAR's cofounder Karen London, Singer launched the ASF as a nonprofit organization supporting autism research premised on the principles that autism has a strong genetic component, that vaccines do not cause autism, and that early diagnosis and intervention are critical. Eric London resigned from Autism Speaks' Scientific Affairs Committee in June 2009, saying that arguments that "there might be rare cases of 'biologically-plausible' vaccine involvement... are misleading and disingenuous", and that Autism Speaks was "adversely impacting" autism research. London is a founding member of the ASF's Scientific Advisory Board. On January 5, 2011, Brian Deer published the first part of his British Medical Journal series on Andrew Wakefield's "elaborate fraud" which started the dubious MMR vaccine controversy. On January 7, 2011, Alison Singer was interviewed by Kiran Chetry on CNN's American Morning. Singer discussed the repercussions of Deer's report, stating, "...we can finally put the question of autism and vaccines behind us."
Activities
ASF has been a sponsor of the "International Meeting for Autism Research" since 2009, and has interviewed a number of researchers at the event. ASF offers travel grants to IMFAR, which are given to individuals and family members affected by autism to attend the conference. The ASF also funds pre- and postdoctoral researchers. In 2019, Alison Singer, the president of the ASF, announced that she had joined the National Council on Severe Autism.
Funding
Vaccinologist Dr. Paul Offit, a founding board member of the Autism Science Foundation, donates all royalties from his most recent book Deadly Choices to the ASF. The Autism Science Foundation also receives royalties from paperback sales of Dr. Paul Offit's previous book, Autism's False Prophets.
Awards
GuideStar named the Autism Science Foundation a top nonprofit startup in disabilities category in 2011, calling it "a shining star to those interested in real science and evidence based interventions".
