Katarzyna Chawarska, PhD

Katarzyna Chawarska's lab is focused on investigating social and emotional development in young children with autism in the service of improving the lives of affected children and their families. They aim to discover early biomarkers of core and comorbid symptoms of autism, as well as to identify novel treatment targets. To this end, the lab uses screen-based and live eye-tracking methods, and more recently, fMRI. The research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, relying on the integration of cutting-edge clinical, behavioral, neurophysiological, and brain imaging approaches and expertise. Their work is closely aligned with some of the key goals of the Wu Tsai Institute, as it strives to advance understanding of the links between the brain and behavior in health and disease through integration across scales, tools, and disciplines.

Chawarska received her MA degree in clinical psychology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Subsequently, she completed a PhD in developmental psychology at Yale. After graduation, Chawarska joined the Yale Autism Program at the CSC and did postdoctoral and clinical training with Fred Volkmar and Ami Klin. She is currently the E. Frazer Beede Professor with a primary appointment at the Child Study Center and secondary appointments in Pediatrics at YSM and in Statistics and Data Science. She directs the Autism Center of Excellence Program, Social and Affective Neuroscience of Autism Program, and Toddler Developmental Disabilities Clinic.