Founding Partners
Anthony J. Cuvo, Ph.D. is one of the three principal administrators of The Autism Program of Illinois. Dr. Cuvo received his Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from Kent State University, and his Ph.D. in Child and Developmental Psychology from the University of Connecticut. He is a former Distinguished Research Fellow of the National Institute of Handicapped Research, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Mental Retardation.
Dr. Cuvo is the founding Director of the Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders and a Professor of Behavior Analysis and Therapy at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He currently chairs the SIUC Human Subjects Committee. Dr. Cuvo regularly writes and presents on topics including, communication and social skills, behavior analysis and behavior supports, developmental disabilities, and autism.
Dr. Cuvo worked as a clinical psychologist in the public schools in Pennsylvania and at Mansfield Training School in Connecticut before assuming his faculty position at Southern Illinois University in 1973. He has held several federal and state grants to support his work.
Joseph E. Nyre, Ph.D is one of the three principal administrators of The Autism Program of Illinois. Dr. Nyre received his Masters degree from the University of Missouri, and both his Ed.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. He completed pre and postdoctoral fellowships in Clinical Child Psychology at both Harvard Medical School/Children’s Hospital and the University of Kansas.
Dr. Nyre is currently the President and CEO of The Hope Institute for Children and Families (HICF) and Residential Treatment Center and a Clinical Associate Professor Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago. He has current program efforts underway in autism, mental health services, school reform, research, teaching, and program development. Dr. Nyre regularly writes and presents on topics including institutional evaluation, strategic planning, and the development of integrative models of service delivery to children and families.
Dr. Nyre has practiced as a psychologist in school settings, clinical settings, and private practice. He has served in a faculty capacity at the University of Kansas, Baylor University, Harvard Medical School, and Simmons College. Dr. Nyre has also served administratively in higher education, public education, and hospital systems. In addition to a nationally recognized program of research, he founded The Kansas Psychology Training Consortium in clinical, school, and counseling psychology; 5 partial hospital programs; a private practice, and The Baylor Evaluation Services Center.
Bennett L. Leventhal, M.D. is one of the three principal administrators of The Autism Project. Dr. Leventhal received his M.D. from Louisiana State University School of Medicine at New Orleans. He completed his residency and fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Leventhal is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Emeritus, The University of Chicago, and has worked extensively in the areas of autism, attention disorders, community services, developmental disorders, genetics, juvenile justice and psychopharmacology. Dr. Leventhal is an active clinician, educator and investigator, as well as an academic and clinical administrator. The primary focus of his current work is on medical education, the diagnosis, etiology and treatment of early-onset childhood psychopathology, particularly autism, and developing new strategies for mental health services delivery to youth.
Dr. Leventhal is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a Fellow of both the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of several boards including the Panel of Professional Advisors of the Autism Society of America. Dr. Leventhal has also served as a consultant and lecturer to numerous agencies and organizations, locally, nationally and abroad.
Currently, Dr. Leventhal is Deputy Director of the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI), Orangeburg, NY, and Professor and Deputy Director for Research in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University and NYU Child Study Center.