Our Team

Building Bridges, Empowering Families with Neurodivergent Children

Our team brings heart, cultural insight, and lived experience to support parents navigating neurodiversity with strength and connection.

Want to get involved? Join us through our parent organization, Bridges from Borders.

Jing Xu is the founder of the Starry Bridge, a program created to support immigrant families raising children on the autism spectrum or developmental delays.
By day, she’s a Senior Data Leader at a top U.S. healthcare company, where she blends logic, creativity, and compassion to improve patient care and hospital system operation through advanced analytics and AI.
With an engineering background and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University at Buffalo, Jing brings both rigor and heart to her work.
Having lived and studied across five countries, she carries a global perspective into everything she builds. Her journey as both a parent and professional fuels her mission to build thoughtful, human-centered solutions in healthcare and for the communities she serves.

Dr. Chong Cheng is a Professor at Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at University at Buffalo (UB), the State University of New York. Before joining UB, he earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry at City University at New York and performed postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis.
He has published ~100 articles on scientific research. He is very interested in humanities as well. He translated a classic biography of Henry Dunant, the founder of Red Cross, from English to Chinese, and the translation was published in early 2023.
He is enthusiastic in supporting the special needs community and underrepresented minorities, and currently serves as a member of the Amherst Committee on Disabilities.

Dr. Helen McCabe is an associate professor of education at Daemen University, teaching courses in special education and early childhood special education. She is passionate about preparing students interested in special education, and supporting parents of children with disabilities.
Her research focuses on education and support for children with autism and their families both in the U.S. and China. She has conducted research and training for parents and teachers in China for many years, both in person and, more recently, through online platforms.
Helen has a Ph.D. in special education and international education policy studies at Indiana University, a master’s degree in East Asian studies from Washington University in St. Louis, and a bachelor’s degree in East Asian studies from Middlebury College.

Samantha started her journey in the non-profit world working at a local nonprofit agency where she currently serves as the Office Manager in their mental health clinic.
She graduated from University at Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in Spanish and International Studies. Her educational background led her to Santiago, Chile, where she lived and worked teaching ESL for four years. In Chile, she was also able to perfect her Spanish and gain fluency which helped her connect to the large Spanish speaking community in Buffalo. Throughout her years abroad, her passion for immigrant and mental health advocacy developed through the stories and experiences of people who were close to her.
Upon her return to Buffalo, she had the opportunity to work in the mental health field with the local Spanish speaking community as a bilingual support staff which eventually led to her current position of Office Manager. In the fall of 2022, Samantha began volunteering and working with Bridges from Borders, and is excited to be a part of the team and their mission to connect and support the diverse communities of Western New York.

Dr. Jinting Wu is an associate professor of educational culture, policy, and society at the University at Buffalo. An anthropologist and comparative education researcher, she has spent most of her career working with and advocating for marginalized populations, including rural, ethnic minorities, immigrants, and children with special needs. Her work offers in-depth narratives of the complex ways marginalized groups experience structural vulnerability and negotiate educational change amidst rapid economic, policy, and global transformations.
Besides her profession, she is an avid student of metaphysics and holistic healing. A certified coherence trainer with the Institute of HeartMath and a meditation instructor with the Heartfulness Institute, she brings nearly a decade of experience teaching science-based wellbeing practices to educators, professionals, and community groups. She is passionate about bridging academic research with transformative healing practices to empower individuals from all walks of life.