Timothy M. Buie is a pediatric gastroenterologist at

Boston Children’s Hospital Boston Children's Hospital (formerly known as Children's Hospital Boston until 2013) is the main pediatric training and research hospital of Harvard Medical School, Harvard University. It is a nationally ranked, freestanding acute care Pediatric ...

. Buie joined Harvard Medical School in 1998 after previously practicing at Pediatric Gastroenterology Associates for eight years. He was also the director of Gastrointestinal and Nutritional Services at MGH's Lurie Center for Autism. He is well known for his research pertaining to the possible connection between autism and gastrointestinal disorders, and has told the

Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) is a United States federal advisory panel within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It coordinates all efforts within HHS concerning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IACC was ...

that over half of autistic children experience gastrointestinal symptoms, whereas he stated that this was the case for "between 50 and 70%" of children with autism in an interview with

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

. He has also said that a subset of autistic children (though not the majority) may benefit from

gluten-free, casein-free diet A gluten-free casein-free diet (GFCF diet), also known as a gluten-free dairy-free diet (GFDF diet), is a diet that does not include gluten (found most often in wheat, barley, and rye), and casein (found most often in milk and dairy products). Des ...

s, and that more research is needed into this area. Buie was honored as "Professional of the Year" by the

Autism Society of America The Autism Society of America (ASA) was founded in 1965 by Bernard Rimland together with Ruth C. Sullivan and a small group of other parents of autistic children. Its original name was the National Society for Autistic Children; the name was chang ...

in 2009.

Education

Buie received his bachelor's degree in biology in 1984 and his MD in 1988, both from the University of Missouri at Kansas City. He then completed his fellowship at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

and his residency at

Bridgeport Hospital Bridgeport Hospital is a not-for-profit general medical and surgical hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is a member of Yale New Haven Health System and affiliated with Yale School of Medicine. During 2018, Bridgeport Hospital received pr ...

Research

Buie has published several papers regarding gastrointestinal problems in autistic children. These studies have usually concluded that gastrointestinal problems are not any more common in autistic children than they are in neurotypical children. Buie also co-authored a paper with

Mady Hornig Mady Hornig (born 1957) is an American psychiatrist and an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. A physician-scientist, her research involves clinical, epidemiological, and animal model re ...

which provided further evidence against a link between the

MMR vaccine The MMR vaccine is a vaccine against measles, mumps, and rubella (German measles), abbreviated as ''MMR''. The first dose is generally given to children around 9 months to 15 months of age, with a second dose at 15 months to 6 years of age, w ...

and autism.

Views on autism

With regard to the cause of autism, Buie said, in an interview with

PBS NewsHour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...

, that "there are over 100 suspect genes that are associated with a higher frequency of autism. So there is clearly an underlying genetic predisposition to this condition in many children. But the possibility that there is some environmental factor or some extrinsic factor that affects those children, I think, still needs to sit on the table." He also said that scientific studies investigating the potential link between the

MMR vaccine and autism Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism have been extensively investigated and found to be false. The link was first suggested in the early 1990s and came to public notice largely as a result of the 1998 ''Lancet'' MMR autism fraud ...

have not supported the hypothesis of a link between the two.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buie, Timothy American gastroenterologists Autism researchers Harvard Medical School faculty Living people University of Missouri–Kansas City alumni Yale University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)