Zero Point: Where Worlds Collide and Autism is Born
Betsy Hendricks is a mother of two grown daughters and grandmother of three grandsons.  She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway Arkansas, where she graduated with Highest Honors in Biology.  She then completed medical school at UAMS in Little Rock, Arkansas.  This was followed by a 3 year residency program in Family Medicine, also at UAMS.  She was Chief Resident during her third year of residency.  After residency, she worked in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UAMS, until she decided to go into private practice so that she could create a more integrative practice for her patients. Dr. Hendricks created the Arkansas Center for the Study of Integrative Medicine.  The principles of functional medicine are employed in the evaluation and treatment of her patients.  Dr. Hendricks was inspired to begin to work with children with autism by Jill James PhD of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, as well as by some autism moms.  Her initial studies took her down a path looking at the connection with yeast and autism, and the role of biofilm in concealing the yeast from detection and eradication, all within the context of the biomedical model.  She presented the biofilm information to the Autism Research Institute Think Tank in 2008.  Although this path of study increased her understanding of the biomedical model of autism development and autism treatment, the drive to increase her understanding became personal with the births of her grandsons.  With her increasing knowledge and understanding, the household underwent a transformation of diet and supplementation, as well as purging of personal care and household products with toxic ingredients.  Amanda, the mother of the grandsons, researched products for the children and the household.  She also developed creative recipes for ensuring adequate nutrition for each child.