Dr. Michael Kelberman Honored with Impact Award

Dr. Michael Kelberman, founder of the Kelberman Center for autism services and Cardiologist with Central New York Cardiology, P.C, recently was honored at the Central New York Business Journal’s 2011 Nonprofit Awards with the “Impact Award.” This award recognizes an employee of a nonprofit, a board member, or a volunteer who created and/or implemented a new or existing program that not only changed the organization but also the community. The recognition banquet was held on March 28, 2011 at the Doubletree Hotel in Syracuse.

Dr. Michael Kelberman is the founder and visionary behind the Kelberman Center for autism services. Realizing the tremendous impact that autism has on individuals and families, with 1 in 110 children in the United States currently born with the disorder, Dr. Kelberman provided leadership to a $1 million campaign to raise the start up funds for the organization, and at the same time recruited experts in the field to relocate to the Utica area. He created an organization that provides cutting edge programs and services, including evaluation and diagnosis, individualized education, social and life skills enhancement, training and research.

The Kelberman Center, which is an affiliate of Upstate Cerebral Palsy, provides opportunities for children and adults of all ages to access targeted autism services to support them in their homes, at school and in their everyday lives. Under his leadership as Board President, the Center has expanded to include a Pediatric Neuropsychologist, numerous other Ph.D. level psychologists as well as school-based consultation services, implementation of recreation programs embedded with social skill training, community education and training opportunities for families and professionals and a professional advisory board comprised of national experts in the field of autism  – all giving the Center national recognition.  

According to his nominator and Kelberman Center Executive Director Helen Stepowany, “Dr. Kelberman has become the voice of autism in our community. Since the creation of the Kelberman Center in 2005, literally thousands of individuals and their families have received life-changing services that have given them hope, reassurance and the tools needed to navigate throughout the complex word of autism.”