Dr. Xue-Jun Kong, known as Dr. June Kong, has turned a life-altering personal journey into a dedicated mission in autism research over the last 25 years.
When she arrived in the United States from China approximately 35 years ago, her initial ambition was to continue her work as a pulmonologist at Peking Medical University.
However, everything changed with the arrival of her son, who was diagnosed with severe autism around the age of three or four.
“Since I had my boy, my life totally changed,” she said, reflecting on how her son’s diagnosis ignited her passion for understanding autism.
Dr. Kong has since shaped her career to focus on neurology and autism research, laying the groundwork for significant advancements in the field.
Now an assistant professor at Harvard and the principal investigator and director of the Synapse Lab at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, her dedication has resulted in six patents and one copyright related to autism therapies and diagnostic tools.
Recently, she has expanded her work at the Synapse Lab for Autism Research, which she founded in 2016 at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In her research, Dr. Kong zeroes in on the critical areas of early childhood diagnosis and fetal diagnosis for autism.
She is exploring innovative avenues like the gut-brain connection in autism, using methods such as microbiome profiling and brain imaging.
“The traditional way to diagnose autism is not until two years old,
image source from：sampan
