T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
The May Institute, Pre-doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology
Placements: School Consultation and Pediatric Psychology
PhD, Clinical Psychology, Minor: Neuropsychology, State University of New York at Binghamton
BA, Psychology, George Washington University
neurodevelopmental disorders, autism spectrum disorder, Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, social-communication phenotyping, social cognitive interventions, multi-modal behavioral and pharmacological interventions, mental health comorbidities in ASD
Latha Soorya, PhD is a clinical psychologist, assistant professor of psychiatry, and research director for the Autism Assessment, Research, Treatment and Services Center. She brings expertise in clinical assessment and evidence-based practice in neurodevelopmental condition. Prior to joining Rush, Soorya was the chief psychologist at the Seaver Autism Center at the Icahn School of Medicine, where she oversaw clinical research programming for the genetics, clinical and pharmaceutical trials. Soorya’s research program focuses on developing and disseminating evidence-informed practices and most recently on multi-modal interventions with capacity to address the complex ASD phenotype. Along with colleagues at the Seaver Center, she led a randomized controlled trial of a social cognitive skills curriculum (NETT: Nonverbal synchrony, Emotion recognition, and Theory of mind Training). NETT is now being evaluated in a multi-modal trial investigating the effects of oxytocin and NETT on emotion recognition and theory of mind skills in school-aged children with autism. Her research has been supported by the NIH, Simons Foundation, Autism Speaks, Brain & Behavior Foundation, and the Brinson Foundation.
Soorya serves on the editorial board of Child Psychiatry and Human Development and is an associate editor of Molecular Autism. She is committed to community programs serving individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions and serves on the board of Autism Speaks’ Chicagoland chapter. She is also dedicated mentoring and training the next generation of professionals serving individuals with developmental conditions. She developed psychology externship and fellowship programs at Mount Sinai and Rush and is the psychology training coordinator for University of Illinois LEND center. Soorya leads a talented research team at the AARTS Center at Rush, with studies including a natural history investigation of Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, Simons SPARK initiative, and clinical trials psychosocial and pharmacological interventions. Please see “Resources” tab for more information on her active studies.
Wang AT, Lim T, Jamison J, Bush L, Soorya LV, Tavassoli T, Siper PM, Buxbaum JD, Kolevzon A. (2016). Neural selectivity for communicative auditory signals in Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 8:5.
Soorya LV, Siper PM, Beck T, Soffes S, Halpern D, Gorenstein M, Kolevzon A, Buxbaum J, & Wang AT. (2015). Randomized comparative trial of a social cognitive skills group for children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 54(3), pp. 208-216.
Anagnostou E, Soorya L, Brian J, Smile S, Jacob S. (2014). Intranasal oxytocin in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders: A review of literature and early safety and efficacy data in youth. Brain Research, 1580: 188-98.
Soorya L, Kolevzon A, Zweifach J, Lim T, Dobry Y, Schwartz L, Wang AT, Cai G, Parkhomenko E, Halpern D, Angarita B, Yang A, Canitano R, Betancur C, Buxbaum JD. (2013). Prospective investigation of autism and genotype phenotype correlations in 22q13 deletion syndrome and/or SHANK 3 deficiency syndrome. Molecular Autism, 4(1): 1-17.
Anagnostou E, Soorya L, Chaplin W, Bartz J, Halpern D, Wasserman S, Wang AT, Pepa L, Tanel N, Kushki A, Hollander E. (2013). Intranasal oxytocin versus placebo in the treatment of adults with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized controlled trial. Molecular Autism, 3(1), art. no. 16
Hollander E, Soorya, LV, Swanson, E, Chaplin, W, Settipani, C. (2012). A double blind placebo controlled trial of fluoxetine for repetitive behaviors and global severity in adult autism spectrum disorders. Am J Psychiatry, 169(3): 292-9.
Fan J, Bernadi S, Dam NT, Anagnostou E, Gu X, Martin L, Park Y, Liu X, Kolevzon A, Soorya L, Grodberg D, Hollander E, Hof PR. (2012). Functional deficits of the attention networks in autism. Brain Behav, 2(5): 647-60.
Pinto D., Pagnamenta A, Klei L, Anney R, Meirco D; The Autism Genome Project. Functional impact of global rare copy number variation in autism spectrum disorders. (2010). Nature, 466 (7304): 368-72.
Hollander E, Soorya LV, Wasserman S, Esposito K., Chaplin W, & Anagnostou E (2005). Divalproex sodium vs. placebo in the treatment of repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorder. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 8(1).
See extended list of publications
Books & Chapters
Joseph L, Soorya L, Thurm A. (2014). Autism Spectrum Disorder. Advances in Psychotherapy- Evidence Based Practice, Vol 29. Hofgrefe Publishing.
Soorya L, Carpenter LA, Warren Z (2013). Behavioral and Psychosocial Interventions for Individuals with ASD. In The Neuroscience of Autism Spectrum Disorders. (Eds. J. Buxbaum and P. Hof). Waltham, MA, Elsevier Inc.
Thurm A, Soorya LV, and Wagner A. (2007). Evaluation and Testing. In Clinical Manual for Treatment of Autism (Eds. E. Hollander, E. Anagnostou). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.