Catherine Lord (born 1950)[1] is an American psychologist and researcher. She currently serves as a member of the International Advisory Board for The Lancet Psychiatry,[2] as co-chair of the Scientific Research Council of the Child Mind Institute,[3] and as the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Education at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.[4]
Lord is credited for co-developing the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R), which are together considered the "gold standard" tools for diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Lord is also known for leading one of the largest and longest-running longitudinal studies of autism and related developmental conditions in modern research. Started in 1990, her longitudinal study of autism has followed a community sample of over 200 individuals, initially referred to community clinics for early autism evaluations as young children, and their families, for nearly 30 years.[5] [6] She has authored hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 10 books about autism through this study and others.[7]
Lord received her B.A. in Psychology from UCLA in 1971, and her PhD in Psychology from Harvard in 1976.[3]
From 2012 to 2018, she was professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College.[8]
In 2017, Lord joined[9] Tilray's Medical Advisory Board.
She is also professor emerita of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Michigan,[10] where she was formerly the director of the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center.[11]
Lord currently directs the Lord Lab at UCLA, where she serves as the George Tarjan Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry in the David Geffen School of Medicine[12] and as a senior research scientist in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.[13] There, she is the principal investigator of several studies, including the longitudinal study of autism. She also mentors a small group of PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and clinical trainees.
Lord has received a considerable number of awards and recognitions throughout her career.
In 2010, she was awarded the APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research.[14]
In 2011, she received the award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology (Society of Clinical Psychology)[15]
In 2017, she received the Sarnat Prize in Mental Health from the National Academy of Medicine.[16]
In 2018, Lord was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[17] [18] [19]
In 2019, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Autism Research.[3]