Meet the Staff

A photo of SPARK central and clinical site staff

Meet the Staff

Date Revised: January 16, 2024

Over forty scientists, software engineers, data analysts, system analysts, web designers and a communications team are the inspiration and driving force behind SPARK. This large team is responsible for connecting researchers to interested participants and ensuring researchers have access to quality data to move the field of autism research forward. In addition to all the staff that makes the study run so efficiently, SPARK works with 31 clinical sites throughout the United States to recruit participants and raise local awareness about autism research. Together, we can make a difference.

Meet SPARK’s leadership team, below.


Alpha Amatya, M.S.
Director of Software Engineering

Photo of Alpha AmatyaAlpha Amatya joined the Simons Foundation in 2014 to lead ongoing and new software development efforts. As the lead for the SPARK project, she is instrumental in working with the internal staff and external vendors, and building the internal engineering team. She is responsible for the system architecture, specification, design, and development of the SPARK system and manages planning, organizing and executing the software implementation of various applications for SPARK. Amatya holds a B.S. in mathematics with a minor in computer science from Washington College in Maryland and an M.S. in computer science from Pace University in New York.

Wendy Chung, M.D., Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Dr. Wendy ChungWendy Chung serves as the principal investigator of SPARK, overseeing all aspects of SPARK development, with an emphasis on genetic research components of the project. She is also the principal investigator for the Simons Searchlight study, which characterizes behavior and brain structure and function in participants with genetic variants believed to play a role in autism spectrum disorders. As principal investigator of SPARK, she is leading the effort to build a community of individuals with autism and their families, working with them to better understand the causes of autism and to develop better means of supporting individuals with the condition. She evaluates opportunities to develop new treatments and supports for autism and new outcome measures to evaluate the efficacy of these treatments.

A clinical and molecular geneticist, Chung received a B.A. in biochemistry and economics from Cornell University, an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and a Ph.D. in genetics from Rockefeller University. She is currently the Chief of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where she performs human genetics research. At Boston Children’s Hospital, she clinically assesses children with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities and uses advanced genomic diagnostic methods, including whole-genome sequencing, to identify the underlying genetic basis for neurological conditions. In her work, she strives to facilitate the integration of genetic medicine into all areas of healthcare in a medically, scientifically and ethically sound, accessible and cost-effective manner.

Chung has received the American Academy of Pediatrics Young Investigator Award, a career development award from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and is a member of the Dade County Hall of Fame. A renowned teacher and mentor, she has won many awards for teaching, including the Charles W. Bohmfalk Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching, the American Medical Women’s Association Mentor Award, and the Columbia University Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching. In 2014, Chung delivered a frequently viewed TED Talk, “What We Know About Autism.”

Amy Daniels, Ph.D.
Project Director

Amy Daniels is the Project Director of SPARK, a SFARI-led research study to recruit, engage, and retain a cohort of 50,000 individuals with autism and their immediate family members. As Project Manager, Daniels oversees the day-to-day activities of SPARK from recruitment efforts to online participation to the recontacting of families to participate in new research efforts. She joined the SPARK team in 2015 after working as assistant director of public health research at Autism Speaks. At Autism Speaks, Daniels oversaw the Global Autism Public Health portfolio in Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet republics, focusing on awareness, research, and building service capacity. Before that, Daniels was project director of the Behavioral Health Leadership Institute, where she evaluated community-based treatment programs for individuals with behavioral health problems, and research coordinator at the Interactive Autism Network. She holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.H.S. and Ph.D. in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Pamela Feliciano, Ph.D.
Scientific Director

A photo of Pam Feliciano, Ph.D.Pam Feliciano is the Scientific Director at SPARK and a Senior Staff Scientist. She manages the return of genetic results to SPARK participants and the review process for SPARK and Simons Searchlight’s Research Match platform. Previously, she was a Senior Scientist at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) and was involved in SFARI’s efforts to develop objective and reliable outcome measures for autism clinical trials. She also was a senior editor at Nature Genetics, where she was responsible for managing the peer review process for research publications in all areas of genetics. Feliciano holds a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. from New York University, and a Ph.D. in developmental biology from Stanford University. She has a teenage son with autism.

Kiely Law, M.D., M.P.H.
Director of Research Operations

A photo of Kiely Law, M.D.Kiely Law is the Director of Research Operations at SPARK. She primarily works on efforts to keep SPARK families engaged in research after joining the study. In addition to her role at SPARK, Kiely directs the Autism Research and Engagement Core at the Maryland Center for Developmental Disabilities at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.  She has nearly 20 years of experience in autism research and has co-authored publications on child safety and elopement, family access to treatment options, and parent mental health and well-being. Kiely received her M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She is the mother of an adult son with autism.