Uli K. Chettipally, MD, MPH

People talk a lot about masking autism, where one has to hide the symtoms of autism and behave like neurotypicals. I want to talk about how autism symptoms will mask a smart, kind and a sweet person. When I talk with parents at Sirica Center, I have to keep reminding them (and myself) that underneath the mask of autism, their child is smart, kind and a sweet individual. Their "behavior" and the dysregulation and physical symptoms will make it hard to see the real person.

We have been working to solve this problem for the last several years. How do you create an activity that is strenuous enough, requires less effort from the caregivers and is FUN for the individual? And it has to be scalable, personalized and require minimal staff support. That’s a tall order - but I think we cracked this nut after several years of trying.

Sirica Therapeutics is proud to announce the grand opening of the first Sirica Center, a pioneering neurodevelopmental wellness and therapeutic facility dedicated to serving autistic individuals and their families in the San Francisco Bay Area.