Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and UCLA are teaming up as a single West Coast powerhouse for autism research after landing a grant of up to $17.25 million to join an international autism clinical‑trials network. The money funds the new IMPACT‑LA site within the Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) IMPACT Network, aimed at building trial‑ready cohorts and speeding development of therapies for autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions. CHLA first announced the award on June 11, and UCLA publicly confirmed the joint site on June 23, 2026.
In a press release via Business Wire, CHLA said Jonathan Santoro, MD, chief of neurology, will serve as principal investigator for the combined CHLA/UCLA site and that the award recognizes the hospital’s leadership in autism and neurodevelopmental care. The release casts the funding as a way to strengthen coordinated research infrastructure across Southern California and bring more clinical‑trial opportunities directly to local families. CHLA also provided a media contact in the release for press inquiries.
UCLA Health described the collaboration as the IMPACT‑LA site and noted that UCLA co‑principal investigators Rujuta B. Wilson, MD, MS, and Rajsekar Rajaraman, MD, MS, will work alongside Dr. Santoro to run the combined effort. UCLA said it will also play a leadership role in the network’s centralized operations, helping standardize clinical and data processes across participating sites. The university emphasized that families enrolled at IMPACT‑LA will receive ongoing clinical care and feedback as the research moves forward.
How the IMPACT Network will operate
According to the ARIA IMPACT Network, participating sites will implement an ARIA IMPACT‑Ready Study that tracks children and young people over time and collects standardized clinical, behavioral, biomarker and genetic data to create a shared platform for trials. The study is organized into two cohorts: a gene‑focused cohort that initially targets six genes linked to autism and a second cohort designed to include children with profound autism who are often underrepresented in research. ARIA’s materials outline a multi‑wave onboarding plan so sites can begin enrollment as they bring standardized assessments and biospecimen collection online.
Local impact and recruitment timeline
UCLA says the IMPACT‑LA site will recruit and follow participants from birth through age 18, contributing standardized datasets that strengthen trial readiness and help make future studies more inclusive. UCLA Health highlights that families will be kept in the loop and can access research opportunities they might not otherwise see in the region. National surveillance also points to rising identification of autism: the CDC reports recent ADDM Network estimates showing roughly 1 in 31 eight‑year‑olds identified with ASD, underscoring the need for larger and more representative studies.
Part of a bigger national effort
The ARIA awards are being spread across a group of leading pediatric centers to create a coordinated, multi‑center trial infrastructure. Texas Children’s and Baylor, for example, announced a matching up‑to‑$17.25 million award for their site role, and Cincinnati Children’s disclosed a five‑year award via PR Newswire, moves that illustrate the national scale of the initiative. Other founding sites named by the network include Boston Children’s and teams at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, signaling a broad, cross‑country push to accelerate autism therapeutic research.
Next steps: sites will complete onboarding and begin recruitment in waves later this year as standardized testing, biomarker collection and data pipelines come online. Organizers say the goal is not only to speed trials but also to create datasets and endpoints that support more rigorous and inclusive studies for a range of autistic children. For media inquiries CHLA listed Marlen Bugarin ([email protected]) in its release, and additional study materials, FAQs and site information are available on the ARIA website.
