Catherine Lord, Ph.D. is the Director of the University of Michigan Autism and Communication Disorders Center (UMACC) and a professor of psychology, psychiatry and pediatrics. She is a clinical psychologist who has worked in Canada and the U.K and at various universities in the U.S., including the TEACCH program. She was involved in developing standardized diagnostic instruments for ASD [the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), an observational scale, and the Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised (ADI-R), a parent interview], considered the gold standard for research diagnoses. She was the Chair of the Committee on Effectiveness of Early Intervention in Autism for the National Research Council.

As Director of UMACC, she provides clinical evaluations and consultations and trains university students and professionals in the diagnosis of ASD. Current projects include the development of a toddler module for the ADOS and use of it in longitudinal follow-up of very young children with possible ASD; organization of the Simons Simplex Collection, a repository of cell lines and phenotypic data for families with a child with autism and a typical child; the development of a measure of spontaneous, functional language in children with ASD; several studies of different interventions with very young children; and a longitudinal study of children followed from age 2 who are now in their teens.