David Amaral, distinguished professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the UC Davis MIND Institute, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from INSAR, the International Society for Autism Research.
The prestigious award honors a scientist whose significant, fundamental contributions to autism research have had a lasting impact on the field.
Amaral’s research investigates the relationship between autism and differences in early brain development. He combines brain imaging and clinical data from long-term studies to identify distinct subtypes of autism. He also produces animal models and facilitates research using postmortem brain donations.
“It’s incredibly humbling to receive this award,” Amaral said. “We’ve made significant strides in our understanding of autism, and yet there is still much to learn. I’m honored to have played a role in advancing this critical field of research.”
The award was presented this week at the INSAR 2026 conference in Prague. The moment was made even more special because it was delivered by one of Amaral’s former trainees Christine Wu Nordahl, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the MIND Institute. Nordahl is the scientific program chair for the conference, which is attended by autism researchers from more than 75 countries.
Presenting the award was very meaningful, Nordahl said, given their many years of working together, first when she was a trainee and later as fellow faculty members.
“It’s very fitting to be presenting this award to David during this historic 25th anniversary of INSAR. Way back in 2001, he recognized the need for a dedicated conference focused on autism science to bring together scientists and clinicians from different disciplines. He then played a foundational role in starting the very first INSAR meeting in 2001,” Nordahl said.
A focus on long-term research across fields
Amaral has long been a leader in large-scale interdisciplinary research efforts.
In 1998, he was the founding research director of the MIND Institute, at the time a brand-new center at UC Davis Health created by local families with autistic children. Both then and now, a key strength is the institute’s ability to bring researchers from a wide range of fields together toward common goals.
In 2006, Amaral founded the Autism Phenome Project, one of the most comprehensive long-term studies of autism in the world. The ongoing study seeks to identify subtypes of autism with the goal of being able to predict outcomes and tailor support for children in the future.
Amaral is also the director of Autism BrainNet, a postmortem brain repository program aimed at enhancing autism research.
A faculty member at UC Davis and its Center for Neuroscience for over 30 years, Amaral has published more than 360 research papers and been cited more than 96,000 times. He has co-edited four books and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.
In addition, Amaral has played a key role in INSAR’s history. In addition to organizing the first research conference 25 years ago, he is a past president of the organization and was editor of its journal, Autism Research, for 11 years.
Amaral spent the early part of his career at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, then joined UC Davis in 1995. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology at Northwestern University and a joint Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Rochester He also conducted postdoctoral research in anatomy and neurobiology at Washington University.
Previous INSAR Lifetime Achievement Award winners from the MIND Institute include Sally Rogers, distinguished professor emeritus, and Peter Mundy, distinguished progressor, both in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
