The Autism Project studies autism as a model system to investigate the reciprocal influences of social processes and biomedical research on the identity of neurobiological difference. There are two branches of this CIRGE research.
Autism Project Branch One
One branch of the Autism Project involves the current and former CIRGE Scholars Jennifer Singh, Dr. Joachim Hallmayer and Dr. Judy Illes. To date, these scholars have considered three major influences involved in the understanding of autism: 1) public and private funding of autism research in the United States; 2) print media reporting of autism research; and 3) perspectives on autism based from adults on the autism spectrum. They have also identified major milestones in autism research from 1943 to 2004 to help situate these influences on a timeline of understanding of autism in the United States.
Recents Publications
Singh J., Illes J., Lazzeroni L. and J. Hallmayer. Trends in US autism research funding. J Autism Dev Disord, 2009. [Epub aead of print].
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Singh J., Hallmayer J., and J. Illes. Interacting and paradoxical forces in neuroscience and society. Nat Rev Neurosci, 2007. 8(2):153-60.
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Recent Presentations
Singh J., Illes J., Lazzeroni L. and J. Hallmayer. Trends in autism research funding, in International meeting for autism research. 2008: London, England.
Singh, J., The voices of autism spectrum disorder, in Society for Social Studies of Science annual meeting. 2006: Vancouver, BC.
Singh, J., Hallmayer, J. and J. Illes. A paradoxical relationship of scientific and public discourse in autism research, in Society for Neuroscience. 2006: Atlanta, GA.
Works in Preparation
Singh, J. The Voices of Autism Spectrum Disorder. For submission to Sociology of Health and Illness, March 2009.
Singh, J. The Genetic Understanding of Autism: Perspectives from Adults on the Autism Spectrum. For submission to American Sociological Association 2009 annual meeting and to Sociology of Health and Illness, March 2009.
Project Directors
Jennifer Singh, MPH
UCSF Sociology Doctoral Candidate, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Former CIRGE Research Assistant
Joachim Hallmayer, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Judy Illes, PhD
Canada Research Chair in Neuroethics
Director of the National Core for Neuroethics, University of British Columbia
Former SCBE Senior Research Scholar
Autism Project Branch Two
The second branch of the Autism Project involves the current and former CIRGE Scholars Martine Lappé, Dr. Holly Tabor and Dr. Joachim Hallmayer. To date, these scholars have focused on two projects. The first project is an analysis of presentations given during the 2004 Institute of Medicine meeting on Vaccines and Autism. This event is considered in relation to shifting causal understandings of autism and complex disease over time. The second project is a qualitative interview project exploring the history of genetic research on autism. Both projects highlight the multiple stakeholders, as well as the social, ethical and political dimensions, involved in understandings of autism. This research is also funded by Dr. Tabor’s K99/R00 grant from NHGRI.
Recent Presentations
Tabor H.K., Mohindra M., Boyce A. and M. Cho. Genetic vs. environmental hypotheses of disease causation: the case of autism, in American Society of Human Genetics 56th annual meeting. 2006: New Orleans, LA.
Project Directors
Martine Lappé
CIRGE Graduate Research Assistant
Doctoral Candidate in Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
University of California, San Francisco
Holly Tabor, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Bioethics
University of Washington School of Medicine and the Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics
Former CIRGE Postdoctoral Fellow
Joachim Hallmayer, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences