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Building on success: AUTISM CLINIC LAUNCHED The Centre for Brain Research at the University of Auckland launched New Zealand’s first Autism Research Clinic late last year. I ts director Dr Jessie Jacobsen says it is a major step toward making genetic diagnosis for autism widely available in New Zealand. Jessie has dedicated years to unravelling the complex genetics of autism and helping to give families clear genetic answers. The award-winning scientist received a Neurological Foundation Philip Wrightson Fellowship in 2008 as an emerging researcher, which she used to study Huntington's disease at Harvard Medical School in the United States. In 2012 she was awarded a Neurological Foundation Repatriation Fellowship to return to New Zealand and establish her own independent research into autism. Dr Jessie Jacobsen at the launch of the Centre for Brain Research’s Autism Research Clinic at the University of Auckland. 18 Headlines