{"id":358759,"date":"2026-09-28T13:05:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358759\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T13:05:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T13:05:52","slug":"informational-talk-on-autism-in-staten-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/358759\/","title":{"rendered":"Informational Talk on Autism in Staten Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>STATEN ISLAND, NY \u2013 On September 27, the Philoptochos Society of the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas parish on Staten Island organized a presentation at the community\u2019s Katsoris Center, regarding the work being done to address autism by the Utica-based Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI).<\/p>\n<p>The presentation was given by Christina Kapetanakis, who shared her personal experience involving her son, Stefanos.<\/p>\n<p>As she stated, \u201cStefanos was diagnosed with autism during his teenage years, and thanks to the Institute\u2019s personalized intervention programs, he made significant progress in developing his communication skills, thereby ensuring a better quality of life and smoother social integration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Institute\u2019s representative and Board member, Archon Harry Pateroulakis, expressed his gratitude\u2014 via The National Herald\u2014 to the parish for hosting the event and to the Philoptochos Society for their support and organization. \u201cThe Institute\u2019s Executive Director is Dr. Maria Kontaridi,\u201d he noted. \u201cUnder her guidance, scientific research focuses on autism and neuroimmunological\/neurocognitive disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-589959\" class=\"size-large wp-image-589959\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Autism-presentation-SI-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-589959\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Attendees listen to the informative presentation on autism at the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas community\u2019s Katsoris Center on Staten Island. Photo: TNH\/Michael Kakias<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing advanced technologies, such as brain organoid models, her team works toward a deeper understanding of these conditions, including PANS\/PANDAS syndromes (Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome and Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo continue its important work, the Institute requires financial resources and seeks everyone\u2019s support,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>It should be noted that the parish\u2019s Philoptochos Society is organizing a walkathon on Saturday, October 24, to raise funds in support of the Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, NY \u2013 On September 27, the Philoptochos Society of the Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas parish on Staten&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-358759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}