- 9 - CEO Today Healthcare Awards 2023 - USA - what motivates me to work at the level that I do, it’s the mission. There are children desperately needing care and parents who just want to help their kids, and I won’t rest until every child has the opportunity to get the autism care that they deserve. In October 2022, you donated $1 million to Temple University for the creation of a new autism lab. Can you tell us more about this and your other charitable activities? I am a passionate supporter of my alma mater, Temple University. I sit on the university’s College of Public Health Board of Visitors and that $1 million donation to develop the ABA Centers of America Autism Lab will allow the school to conduct autism research, offer diagnostic services, train students to become clinicians to meet the needs of the autistic community and to make a difference for the general public. With the rate of autism in children seeming to increase each year, it’s important that the autism care workforce continue to strengthen in numbers. I am committed to making sure that individuals who would like to pursue a career in autism care have a path and the support that they need to achieve the certificates, degrees and experience necessary to become highcaliber clinicians. My wife and I also personally endowed Temple’s ‘Cherry Pantry’, which combats hunger within the university community by supplying nutritious emergency food and equal treatment to all who visit the pantry. During the course of your work to date, what achievements have you marked that you are most proud of having accomplished? I become prouder of what we are accomplishing at ABA Centers as each day passes. At the time of this interview, we have already doubled the number of children that we are serving, year to date. Those children aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet to us – they are children that have learned to brush their teeth on their own, they are children that no longer shrink away from hugs or high-fives, and they are parents and caregivers that get to hear their child say ‘I love you’ for the first time. Every day, we are working to provide children with the tools to better navigate their autism journey and set themselves up to lead robust and fulfilling lives. Can you share anything about your development plans for ABA Centers in the final months of 2023 and beyond? For the remainder of 2023, ABA Centers is charging forward with its expansion plans. We are currently providing autism care in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida. By the end of the year, we will also be serving Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Our company is in hypergrowth mode and we have our eyes set on the West Coast, so our advancement across the United States will continue into and throughout 2024. We are also continuing to leverage and build out a robust and astute team of technology and artificial intelligence experts at our offices in both the US and Medellin, Colombia. We are eager to explore emerging technologies and how they might amplify the efficiency and effectiveness of autism care that kids receive, so that more children can get the care that they need – quickly. “There are children desperately needing care and parents who just want to help their kids, and I won’t rest until every child has the opportunity to get the autism care that they deserve.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz