Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Lawrence Fung is a physician-scientist specializing in autism and neurodiversity. Dr. Fung is an associate professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University. He is the director of the Stanford Neurodiversity Project (SNP), director of the Neurodiversity Clinic, and PI at the Fung Lab. Dr. Fung’s research traverses from multi-modal neuroimaging studies to a new conceptualization of neurodiversity and its application to clinical, educational, and employment settings. His lab has two main arms of research: (1) neurobiology of autism and (2) neurodiversity.
The neurobiology arm of his lab focuses on advancing the understanding of the thalamocortical circuits and their socio-communicative and cognitive functions in people on the spectrum by using novel neuroimaging and bioanalytical technologies. The findings of his neurobiology research efforts were published in top journals in our field, such as Molecular Psychiatry, Translational Psychiatry, and Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Using a community-based participatory research approach, Dr. Fung’s team devises and implements novel interventions to improve the lives of neurodiverse individuals by maximizing their potential and productivity. He has developed and assessed several psychoeducational interventions, including the Developing Inclusive and Vocational Educational Resources for Success and Employment (DIVERSE) curriculum.
Dr. Fung is also the founding director of the SNP, a special initiative of the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford. Since 2017, the SNP has organized various events, including the Stanford Neurodiversity Summit, which brings thousands of people together yearly to share visions, innovations, and inspirations about maximizing the potential of neurodiversity. Each summer, about 100 high-school students join us at the SNP’s Research, Education, and Advocacy Camp for High Schoolers (SNP-REACH), to learn how to develop neurodiversity advocacy projects. Dr. Fung also teaches a neurodiversity design thinking course at Stanford. Clinically, Dr. Fung has applied the SBMN to his clinical work and is teaching a CME course focusing on delivering neurodiversity-affirmative care to neurodivergent patients.
