The Kinard Center founder and lead clinician, Dr. Jessica Kinard, PhD CCC-SLP, is a bilingual (English/Spanish) speech-language pathologist and autism expert who has served as research, teaching, and clinical faculty for 10 years at UNC Chapel Hill, where she completed her doctoral and postdoctoral training in the fields of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities.

Dr. Kinard is clinically and research-certified in administering the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2), part of a gold-standard approach to diagnosing autism. Dr. Kinard brings over 15 years of experience in the field of autism, including:

• Publishing over 15 peer-reviewed, scientific articles on autism, one of which won a 2024 Editor’s Award from the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research

• Providing award-winning talks nationally and internationally about autism, such as a Centennial Session Award at the 2025 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

• Teaching graduate-level courses about autism at UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina Central University

• Collaborating on interdisciplinary autism diagnostic teams at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at UNC Chapel Hill, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities

• Conducting an award-winning program of research focused on autism, including a Young Investigator Award from the Autism Speaks Toddler Treatment Network