About Us

Mission
SymTrend Inc. was founded in 1998. Its mission is to revolutionize behavioral and mental health care through broad, powerful, yet easy-to-use applications of information technology to routine, individual patient care and special education. To achieve this goal, SymTrend Inc. has invented and developed the SymTrend treatment support system. The SymTrend system combines the power of the Internet, of mobile technology, and of advanced statistical methods to form the first comprehensive treatment support system for special education and behavioral health care.

The founders, through their clinical and personal experience designed SymTrend to:

• Provide a mobile and Internet platform for all providers to use whichever technology meets their data collection needs.
  
• Compile timely data from all people involved with an individual, including the individual, so that everyone is “on the same page”.
  
• Enable real-time guidance and self-management tools for parents, teens, and adults.
  
• Coordinate care across disciplines and families.
  
• Help evaluate whether treatments and management strategies are working.
  
• Identify triggers of challenging behaviors and highlight strategies to manage them.

The No More Meltdowns/SymTrend Collaboration

SymTrend is excited to work with the renowned psychologist Dr. Jed Baker on this No More Meltdown/SymTrend application and website. Jed Baker, Ph.D. is the director of the Social Skills Training Project, a private organization serving individuals with autism and social communication problems. He also directs social skills training for Millburn Public Schools in New Jersey. He is on the professional advisory board of Autism Today, ASPEN, ANSWER, YAI, the Kelberman Center and several other autism organizations. In addition, he writes, lectures, and provides training internationally on the topic of social skills training and managing challenging behaviors. He is an award winning author of five books, including Social Skills Training for Children and Adolescents with Aspergers Syndrome and Social Communication Problems; Preparing for Life: The Complete Handbook for the Transition to Adulthood for Those with Autism and Aspergers Syndrome; The Social Skills Picture Book; The Social Skills Picture Book for High School and Beyond; and No More Meltdowns: Positive Strategies for Managing and Preventing Out-of-Control Behavior. His work has also been featured on ABC World News, Nightline, the CBS Early Show, and the Discovery Health Channel.

The SymTrend Team

The clinical directors of SymTrend are well known for inventive, practical, behavioral approaches to optimizing the functioning of those contending with a debilitating psychiatric, neurological, or developmental condition. Many of the clinical affiliates at SymTrend are on the staff of the Harvard Medical School and are leaders in their disciplines. They include psychiatrists, psychologists, neuropsychologists, psychometricians, and statisticians who have authored original research and contributed chapters to textbooks.

SymTrend Business Leadership
Minna Levine, OTR/L, PhD, President, has extensive experience in healthcare, data management, and clinical research. She has led workshops and has written on the use of mobile technology for monitoring care and self-management. Minna led the transformation of the SymTrend prototype into the SymTrend system. She also managed SYmTrend's three small business grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the development of its tools for individuals on the autism spectrum.

SymTrend Clinical Scientific Leadership
Ron Calvanio, PhD, was the inventor of the SymTrend prototype. He is an Instructor, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, the co-author of numerous research reports in neuroscience journals such as Brain, Neurology, Neuropsychologia, and Brain Injury, and a consultant to clinical trials. For nineteen years, Ron was Director of Neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, a Partners Healthcare System hospital and the largest rehabilitation hospital in United States and is now a member of the Neurology Department of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston. In addition to contributing to the design of the SymTrend system, he has used it in the evaluation and care of a diverse patient population: individuals with Aspergers, brain injury, migraine headaches, “spells”, and fatigue.
Jane Holmes Bernstein, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer - Children, is part of the Neuropsychology Program at the Children's Hospital, Boston and was its director until the fall of 2004. She is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry), Harvard Medical School. Jane is a nationally recognized authority on child neuropsychology. Jane teaches locally and nationally on the assessment of behavior in children. She has worked to make SymTrend useful for children, adolescents, and parents.
Dorothy (Dot) Lucci, M.Ed.,CAGS, Consultant - Children, is Director of Consultation at Massachusetts General Hospital/YouthCare. She is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant regarding children diagnosed with ASD and has published in peer reviewed journals. She is on the Board of Directors of the Asperger's Association of New England and is an adjunct faculty member at Lesley University and Antioch University and a school psychologist by training.

SymTrend Statistics Leadership
Richard Goldstein, PhD, is a nationally recognized biostatistician who has published widely on statistical software and recently won the coveted Mosteller award of the Boston Chapter of the American Statistical Association. Rich is a lecturer in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

SymTrend Information Technology Leadership
Chris Dunn, Web Applications Consultant, Clear Pond Technologies, Inc., Needham, MA. Chris leads the application and database design, system and billing integration, and site security design and implementation.
Jane Foley Sherwood provides graphic design, programming, editing and usability consulting. Jane has studied graphic design and web production at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Emerson College, Boston.

SymTrend Advisory Board
Dan Bricklin, MBA, is a nationally recognized and honored pioneer in PC and web software design. Dan invented the PC spreadsheet while at the Harvard Business School and holds patents for other software innovations. He holds an honorary doctorate of letters from Newbury College. Dan has been on SymTrend Inc.'s advisory board since the company's inception and remains in close contact to advise about system design and strategic business matters. Dan is also a member of the SymTrend Board of Directors.
Gary Gottlieb, MD, MBA, is CEO of the Partners Healthcare System, Inc., which includes eight Boston area hospitals, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and McLean Hospital. Gary has been a steadfast supporter of SymTrend development since 1999.
Gary B. Mesibov, PhD, is a nationally recognized leader in Autism research and practice. He is the former director of Division TEACCH at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and a professor in the Department of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry at UNC/Chapel Hill. He has written extensively on the subject of Autism and on the TEACCH structured teaching method. Gary has been the Principal Investigator on two small business grants with SymTrend.