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UNC-Chapel Hill Produces Innovative Autism Research

WUNC News | By Anita Rao,
Frank Stasio
Published March 23, 2017 at 12:10 PM EDT

One in 68 children in the United States will develop autism spectrum disorder, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. The field of autism research has grown rapidly in the past few decades, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is at theforefront of much of this discovery. 

A conversation with the director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities Dr. Joseph Piven about new innovative autism research.Researchers have made breakthroughs ranging from findings that identify new genes linked to autism, to a new study that shows it is possible to use MRI scans to predict whether babies with autistic siblings will develop autism themselves.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Dr. Joseph Piven, a UNC-Chapel Hill psychiatrist, who directs the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities.

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A study to assess whether or not a young child is showing signs of developing autism spectrum disorder.
Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities /
A study to assess whether or not a young child is showing signs of developing autism spectrum disorder.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio