MAPS Spring 2026: Learning Across Complex Pediatric Care

In March 2026, LukoLab founder Saulius Fomenko attended MAPS Spring in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the invitation of Honey Rinicella, Executive Director of the Medical Academy of Pediatrics & Special Needs.

The professional Functional & Translational Medicine Conference programme ran on 12–14 March. Activities continued on Sunday, 15 March, with closing Q&A sessions and conversations with parents and the wider MAPS community. This visit therefore spans four days.

The conference brought together clinicians and other professionals working with children and young adults with complex health and developmental needs. Sessions examined mitochondrial function and metabolism, immune regulation, nutrition, neurological health, environmental exposures and chronic infection.

For LukoLab, the visit offered a chance to hear how practitioners from different disciplines approach health difficulties that can accompany autism and other developmental conditions. Alongside the lectures, discussions explored differences in practice and questions that remain open.

Conversations with parents and other participants brought the discussion back to daily life: how families make sense of information, prepare for specialist consultations and make decisions. Conference attendance does not in itself endorse every approach presented.

Charlotte was the first stop on this journey. It was followed by an interview with Dr Audrius Plioplys in Michiana, work in his Chicago archive and the ICAN conference in Canada.