In 2022, we asked our profile subjects and sources to flag rising stars in their labs or among their former students. The result is this list of 40 young researchers who are working on autism-related science across the globe. To read more about early-career researchers, subscribe to our Spectrum Launch newsletter.
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Oluwatobi Abubakare
Doctoral student
Indiana University Bloomington
Bloomington, Indiana, United States
Broadening the autism spectrum: Q&A with Oluwatobi Abubakare
Deep Adhya
Research associate
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
Gail Alvares
Postdoctoral researcher
Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia
Perth, Australia
Jennifer Ames
Staff scientist
Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Oakland, California, United States
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Vanessa Bal
Associate professor; Karmazin & Lillard Chair in Adult Autism
Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Rising Star: Vanessa Bal traverses fine work-life balance
Richard Bethlehem
Research associate
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
Q&A with Richard Bethlehem: What goes into a Brainhack
Elisabet Blok
Doctoral student
Erasmus University Medical Center
Rotterdam, Netherlands
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Hsiao-Tuan Chao
Assistant professor
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas, United States
Tying PPFIA3 to autism: A quick take at SfN with Tuan Chao and Maimuna Paul
Annie Ciernia
Assistant professor
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, Canada
Beyond the bench: A conversation with Annie Ciernia
Marissa Co
Postdoctoral researcher
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, Oregon, United States
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Alissa D’Gama
Clinical fellow
Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Caroline Dias
Assistant professor
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora, Colorado, United States
Ryan Doan
Assistant professor
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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Emilia Favuzzi
Assistant professor
Yale School of Medicine
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
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Alan Gerber
Postdoctoral researcher
Yale Child Study Center
New Haven, Connecticut, United States
Erin Giglio
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Whitney Guthrie
Assistant professor
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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Clare Harrop
Assistant professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and TEACCH Autism Program
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
How to safeguard online data collection against fraud
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Desiree Jones
Doctoral student
University of Texas at Dallas
Dallas, Texas, United States
How to support Black scientists and clinicians in autism research
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Erin Kang
Assistant professor
Montclair State University
Montclair, New Jersey, United States
Ann Kennedy
Assistant professor
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois, United States
Rising star: Ann Kennedy bridges gap between biology, computational theory
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Yinqing Li
Associate professor
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China
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Brenna Maddox
Assistant professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
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Jessica Rast
Research scientist
Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Gabriela Rosenblau
Assistant professor
George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Beyond the bench: A conversation with Gabriela Rosenblau
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Wei Song
Research scientist
Drexel University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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Rackeb Tesfaye
Doctoral student
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
Novel protocol captures autism voices across the spectrum
Constantina Theofanopoulou
Associate research professor at Hunter College of the City University of New York
Visiting associate professor at Rockefeller University
New York, New York, United States
Beyond the bench: Learning new moves with dancer-scientist Constantina Theofanopoulou
Shelby Towers
Graduate research assistant
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, United States
Cleber Trujillo
Associate director
Vesalius Therapeutics
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Alex Tsompanidis
Postdoctoral research associate
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
In defense of sex steroids’ role in autism
Tychele Turner
Assistant professor
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Focus on function may help us unravel autism’s complex genetics
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Kandice Varcin
Research fellow
Griffith University/CliniKids, Telethon Kids Institute
Queensland, Australia
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Hannah Waddington
Senior lecturer
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand
Anna Wallisch
Assistant research professor
Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, University of Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas, United States
Tianyun Wang
Assistant professor
Peking University
Beijing, China
Varun Warrier
Research associate
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, England
Donna Werling
Assistant professor
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Webinar: Donna Werling on gene-expression differences in the brains of autistic people
Zachary Williams
Doctoral student
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
A new hub for participatory research: Q&A with Zachary Williams
Helen Willsey
Assistant professor
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, Unites States
How Helen Willsey broke new ground, frogs in hand
