On May 1, 2025, Joseph Piven, MD, the Thomas E. Castelloe Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at the UNC School of Medicine and director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD), was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for Autism Research.
The award, the most prestigious honor in the field of autism research, recognizes the career of a researcher who has made significant advances to understanding autism that have made a lasting impact on the field. The Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is decided by the society’s board of directors, who are prominent international autism researchers themselves.
“This distinguished honor celebrates Dr. Piven’s visionary leadership and enduring contributions to autism research,” stated INSAR when presenting the award. “His work has shaped the field and inspired generations of scientists and clinicians.”
The International Society for Autism Research is the largest and most prominent autism research society in the world. Piven received the award at the society’s international meeting, held this year in Seattle, and he gave an acceptance speech overviewing his career’s work to an audience of over 2,400 international autism researchers.