The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has re-funded the Healthy Weight Research Network (HWRN), a national research network coordinated by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at UMass Medical School, with a $1.2 million, five-year grant. HWRN is directed by researchers at the Shriver Center and Tufts University School of Medicine.

A study that found a gluten-free, casein-free diet doesn’t appear to improve behaviors or symptoms of autism needs to be done with a larger group to be certain the diet isn’t effective in children with autism, a UMass Medical School professor told The Wall Street Journal. 

Autism research at UMass Medical School’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center aims to reduce barriers to diagnosis and both understand and meet the unique needs of this population, according to a July 26 article in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

The Healthy Weight Research Network (HWRN), a national research network that is coordinated by UMass Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine, will host a free symposium at the Hilton Baltimore May 11 in Maryland. The symposium will share the latest information about obesity, physical activity, and eating behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities (DD).

Keeping weight off is difficult for 26-year-old Cassidy Bauer, who is only 4-and-a-half-feet tall. But Bauer and her mother say they’ve had help from UMass Medical School’s Health U weight loss program for people with intellectual disabilities, which has taught them about proper nutrition, exercise and lifestyle changes, according to an article in the Telegram & Gazette Aug. 26.