Headshot of Dr. Waganesh Zeleke

Waganesh Zeleke

Associate professor
Duquesne University

Waganesh Zeleke is associate professor of mental health counseling at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a licensed clinical professional counselor and a nationally certified counselor. She serves as an associate editor for Frontiers in Education: Special Educational Needs and as guest editor for different journals. Zeleke published more than 35 scholastic articles in peer-reviewed journals on various topics, including autism in Africa, mental health disparity, child and family relationships, international adoption, trauma and immigrant health.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Map of socioeconomic opportunity in the United States next to visualizations of functional connectivity and structure in sensory and motor cortices.

IQ’s link to brain structure, function in children may be a mirage

A child’s socioeconomic status, screen time and amount of sleep all show stronger associations with measures of brain structure and function, according to an imaging study of nearly 12,000 9- to 10-year-olds.

By Natalia Mesa
11 June 2026 | 5 min read
Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 2: “You need to go to college”

With just a high school equivalency degree and struggling as a single mother, Tempest McDonald is forced to shift her priorities.

By Brady Huggett
11 June 2026 | 28 min listen
Research image of X-linked RNAs in male mice.

Noncoding RNA sways core autism traits in mice

Small deletions in an X-linked RNA alter social and repetitive behaviors in male mice without broadly affecting learning or memory.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
11 June 2026 | 4 min read