ASD Researchers at UNC, Executive Committee

Associate Director, UNC Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center

Gabriel Dichter, Ph.D., is a professor of psychiatry and psychology & neuroscience, director of Clinical Affective Neuroscience Lab, and associate director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. 

Dr. Dichter is a licensed clinical psychologist with active programs of research in autism spectrum disorders and affective disorders. He uses behavioral, eye tracking, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging methods to investigate neurobiological mechanisms and treatment response in these conditions. Both areas of research are funded by NIMH and private foundation grants and capitalize on resources across both the UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke Medical Center campuses. Dr. Dichter’s program of autism research at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities addresses mesolimbic response to social and nonsocial rewards in children with autism and whether such responses may be predictors of treatment response. His program of affective disorders research is a collaboration with the Duke Cognitive Behavioral and Research and Treatment Program and focuses on molecular genetic and neuroimaging predictors of response to talk therapy.