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Geraldine Dawson, PhD

William Cleland Distinguished Professor
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Professor in Pediatrics
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Division: 
Child & Family Mental Health & Community Psychiatry
Office: 2608 Erwin Road, Room 3126, Duke University Med Center, Durham, NC 27705
Campus Mail: DUMC Box 3527 DUMC, Durham, NC 27710

Geraldine Dawson is the William Cleland Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University, where she also is Professor of Pediatrics and Psychology & Neuroscience.  Dawson also is Director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, an NIH Autism Center of Excellence, which is an interdisciplinary research program and clinic, aimed to improve the lives of those with autism through research, education, clinical services, and policy.  Dawson received a Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington and completed a clinical internship at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Dawson previously served as Director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, President of the International Society for Autism Research and was appointed by the US Secretary of Health as a member of the NIH Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) which develops the federal strategic plan for autism research, services, and policy. Dawson is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was Founding Director of the University of Washington (UW) Autism Center and the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development. Dawson was awarded the American Psychological Association Distinguished Career Award (Div53); Association for Psychological Science Lifetime Achievement Award; Clarivate Top 1% Cited Researcher Across All Scientific Fields; NIH Top Research Advances of the Year Award (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018); Autism Society of America Award for Research Contributions; Autism Society Medical Professional of the Year; and Autism Society Award for Valuable Service. Dawson is a Fellow of the International Society for Autism Research, the American Psychological Society and American Psychological Association, and is Associate Editor or on editorial boards of four scientific journals. 

Education and Training

  • Clinical Internsship with speciality in Developmental Disabilities, Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of California - Los Angeles, 1979 - 1980
  • Ph.D., University of Washington, 1979

In the News

Selected Grants

Publications

Tenenbaum, Elena J., Samantha Major, Kimberly L. H. Carpenter, Jill Howard, Michael Murias, and Geraldine Dawson. “Distance from Typical Scan Path When Viewing Complex Stimuli in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and its Association with Behavior.” J Autism Dev Disord 51, no. 10 (October 2021): 3492–3505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04812-w.

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Engelhard, Matthew, Samuel Berchuck, Jyotsna Garg, Shelley Rusincovitch, Geraldine Dawson, and Scott Kollins. “Patterns of Health Services Use Before Age 1 in Children Later Diagnosed With ADHD.” J Atten Disord 25, no. 12 (October 2021): 1639. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054720914352.

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Perochon, Sam, Matias Di Martino, Rachel Aiello, Jeffrey Baker, Kimberly Carpenter, Zhuoqing Chang, Scott Compton, et al. “A scalable computational approach to assessing response to name in toddlers with autism.” J Child Psychol Psychiatry 62, no. 9 (September 2021): 1120–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13381.

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McCracken, James T., Evdokia Anagnostou, Celso Arango, Geraldine Dawson, James McPartland, Declan Murphy, Gahan Pandina, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, and Jeremy ISCTM/ECNP ASD Working Group. “Corrigendum to "Drug development for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Progress, challenges, and future directions. [European Neuropsychopharmacology Volume 48, July 2021, Pages 3-31]".” Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 50 (September 2021): 133–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.07.090.

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Chang, Zhuoqing, J Matias Di Martino, Rachel Aiello, Jeffrey Baker, Kimberly Carpenter, Scott Compton, Naomi Davis, et al. “Computational Methods to Measure Patterns of Gaze in Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Jama Pediatrics 175, no. 8 (August 2021): 827–36. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0530.

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Aaronson, Benjamin, Annette Estes, Sally J. Rogers, Geraldine Dawson, and Raphael Bernier. “The Early Start Denver Model Intervention and Mu Rhythm Attenuation in Autism Spectrum Disorders.” J Autism Dev Disord, July 26, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05190-7.

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Bovery, M., G. Dawson, J. Hashemi, and G. Sapiro. “A Scalable Off-the-Shelf Framework for Measuring Patterns of Attention in Young Children and Its Application in Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Ieee Transactions on Affective Computing 12, no. 3 (July 1, 2021): 722–31. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAFFC.2018.2890610.

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Dawson, Geraldine. “Assessment of outcomes in autism clinical trials over the course of development.” Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 48 (July 2021): 40–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.02.018.

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McCracken, James T., Evdokia Anagnostou, Celso Arango, Geraldine Dawson, Tiffany Farchione, Valentina Mantua, James McPartland, et al. “Drug development for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Progress, challenges, and future directions.” Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 48 (July 2021): 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2021.05.010.

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Kaliukhovich, Dzmitry A., Nikolay V. Manyakov, Abigail Bangerter, Seth Ness, Andrew Skalkin, Matthew Boice, Matthew S. Goodwin, et al. “Visual Preference for Biological Motion in Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Eye-Tracking Study.” J Autism Dev Disord 51, no. 7 (July 2021): 2369–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04707-w.

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