Professor Catherine Lord
Area: Clinical, Developmental
Research Interests: My major research interests are autism and related developmental disorders. Current studies include: longitudinal study of two cohorts of children referred for possible diagnosis of autism; development of diagnostic instruments for autistic spectrum disorders; genetics and pathphysiology of autism; and atypical development of language, cognitive and social skills at ages two and three.
What has been your proudest moment?
I have three: my two children and 32 years of being married to Fred; creating
diagnostic instruments in autism that have allowed researchers to work together and
that a greater diversity of children can be included in research; and participating in
UMACC – the staff and students.
What has been your most humbling experience?
Being unable to help a family whose child with autism is aggressive and unhappy.
On a lighter note, one rainy day when my 12 year-old daughter and I were the
only passengers on a guided tour of Lisbon in an open, Disneyland-style tram. We
were seated in the back, and when we stopped on the top of a hill to look at a view, I
got out, and then the tram started to leave. I ran after it with my daughter screaming
in the back; when I finally managed to
run up by the side of the tram to ask the
driver to stop (in my best, incomprehensible
Portuguese), the tour guide shouted
at me, “You are in the back of the bus;
you cannot sit here. What are you doing
here? You’re not allowed to sit here!”
(While pointing back to my daughter,
but not asking the driver to halt.) Eventually,
they let me enter the back of the
bus, soaking wet and breathless.
What do you wish you had known
at the start of your career?
I wish I’d known earlier how exciting and fun it is to work on questions where
you feel you can really make a difference, whether to the field or to a family or child.
What is one thing that most
people don’t know about you?
I was the tallest child in my
class, even having skipped a grade,
until 6th grade. Someone predicted
from my height at age 2 that I
would be 6’6”.
If you had to choose another
career, what would it be?
A percussionist or a translator
of fiction and poetry.
"Five Minutes With..." Features
Rob Sellers | Cathy Lord | Patti Reuter-Lorenz | Monique Ward
Chris Peterson | Bill McKeachie | Margaret Shih | Cindy Lustig
On Our Minds 2005 Homepage
