Research Advisory Board

Members of this board may or may not agree with The BHARE Foundations choices of where funding is spent. The members review and recommend research they feel would be the most effective and useful in treating and ultimately curing our children.

Gaylen Tharp
Gaylen is the mother of a fabulous child with autism and toxic encephalopathy. She lives in Arlington Texas.

Her past professions include being a News Anchor and Reporter, Writer (news, features, advertising, speeches, and presentations), Public Relations, and Marketing Consultant. Her most recent focus has been four plus years of providing one-on-one therapy, as well as overseeing and coordinating an intensive therapy program for her son using a variety of approaches including the Option Institute's Son-Rise Program, the National Association of Child Development's Neurodevelopmental Program, Sensory Integration, Brain Gym, and Applied Behavioral Analysis drills. Gaylen also is an Intensive Home Therapy Consultant who works with various families to help them develop, maintain and add excitement and fun to their home therapy programs.

Gaylen's interest in Autism as she states, is purely selfish to help her son, but has blossomed into a real passion for learning about this amazingly complex puzzle that afflicts more and more children. She believes there are many different manifestations and causes of autism and by identifying these we can find help for our children as well as prevent future generations from the damage of this disease.

Ricci Carole Hedequist
Ricci lives in Seattle, WA with her husband and four children, the youngest a son with autism. She is a researcher and an advocate for autism research, with a specific interest in allergy/immune and endocrine issues in autism. Ricci is devoted to advocating for research that will serve to establish biological markers to identify subgroups of children with the label of autism, as well as to create sound diagnostic and treatment protocols for children in these various subgroups. She is the list owner for secretin-discussion@egroups.com, an email discussion list for parents, researchers, and physicians to exchange information regarding biological factors in autism.

Eric Smith
Eric is the father of two sons, Evan and Dylan, both of whom are on the Autism Spectrum. He is an architect working in Grayslake, IL. Eric is the president of the Northeast IL Chapter of the Autism Society of America and the treasurer for the Autism Society of IL. He also sits on several parent advisory committees.

Maria Carlshamre
Maria is a journalist and television producer, married to Johan and mother of three boys, Sam, Bjorn, and Erik. Erik was diagnosed with autism October 28, 1999. Her main interest in autism is in the neuroimmunological area in connection to metal toxicity and more specifically mercury allergy. Maria believes it may be relevant for many children on the spectrum.

Julie Ross
Julie Ross is the mother of three girls and a boy. Her son, James is autistic. She was a primary school teacher in her home city of Edinburgh, Scotland, for ten years until the birth of her first two girls, twins in 1988. She now works at home, directing a home-based program for her son James. She has also written for the Autism File magazine. Having initially been devastated that her son was suffering from a "lifelong incurable condition", she is now convinced this need not be the case. She is actively pursuing the best biological help available for James. She feels it is important that all parents have access to the kind of help that might alleviate their children's symptoms. To that end, her husband Ken, a lawyer, is now a non-political member of an all party Scottish Parliamentary Group to investigate lines of research for the treatment of diseases within the autistic spectrum. He hopes to encourage the introduction of biological diagnostic testing for all children with ASD.

Vicki Martin, R.N.
Vicki Martin has a child diagnosed with Autistic Disorder. She has experience doing many interventions in the DAN Protocol as well as educational interventions. Vicki is an R.N. and Certified Health Education Specialist and speaks about early and aggressive autism treatment.

Officers of The BHARE Foundation

Jeff Hornstein
Jeff is the uncle of an autistic nephew and it is his desire to help the Foundation achieve its goals of research and education. He is a Director of The Foundation

Bram Hornstein
Bram is the father of Brenen, who has autism and more recently, epilepsy as well. He also has two daughters, Baily and Tessa. His priority in life is to ensure that his son is able to do as much as he possibly can through an intensive one-on-one home based therapy program. Furthermore he is committed to treating his son's autism aggressively through biological methods. Bram's second priority is to fund research through The BHARE Foundation that will find a cure for autism. In addition he would like all parents of autistic children to have access to ALL of the information that is available that may help a child improve.

Bram is a Firefighter/Paramedic by profession and has a Biology degree from Northern Illinois University. He is V.P. of The Foundation.

Kimberly Hornstein
Kimberly is the mother of Brenen, Baily, and Tessa and an advocate for her children. She is actively involved in her local ASA chapter. Kimberly wants to help fund further biomedical research that will benefit all people on the autistic spectrum and those yet to be diagnosed. She believes through education of parents, physicians, and the general public, that this will lead to more awareness and more funding of the much needed autism research. Above all, she wants to provide a constant environment of interaction and natural learning for her children Brenen, Baily and Tessa.

Kimberly is a fitness instructor and has a B.S. in Accountancy from Northern Illinois University. She is President of The Foundation.

Jackie McKeague
Jackie is the mother of Jack and Kate. Jack is on the Autism Spectrum. Jackie is a stay-at-home mom and is on the PTA board of her children’s school. Jackie believes that a combination of therapies and interaction with typical children has helped her son improve his social skills and language. Jackie also believes that we must remember the siblings who are dealing with Autism on another level. We must keep talking to them about their sibling with Autism and the difficulties they are having on a day-to-day basis.

Jim Morettini
Jim is the uncle of Nicholas Morettini, who has autism. He is also the owner/operator of Kids Therapy, Ltd. along with his wife Debbie. Kids Therapy provides speech, occupational, and physical therapy to children, many of whom have autism or related disorders, at its clinics in Libertyville and Barrington, IL. Jim is a Director of The Foundation.

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