Joseph Piven

Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Joseph Piven is Thomas E. Castelloe Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also director of the NIH Autism Center of Excellence Network’s Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS). He served on the American Psychiatric Association committee that wrote the new definition of autism spectrum disorder for the DSM-5.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

Conceptual image of disjointed communication

‘Slightly unhinged’ federal autism meeting portends unclear research priorities

The meeting last week sparked concerns about the latest Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s ability to perform its core function: developing a strategy to support autism research.

By Daisy Yuhas
7 May 2026 | 4 min read

Ehud Ahissar offers a new kind of dualism for neuroscience

He explains how “perceptual dualism” can account for the way we communicate via digital symbols and perceive the world via analog brain processes.

By Paul Middlebrooks
6 May 2026 | 102 min listen

Microglia in hypothalamus help kick-start puberty

In a “surprise” role, the cells regulate the neurons that produce gonadotropin-releasing hormone.

By Helena Kudiabor
6 May 2026 | 0 min watch