Congratulations to the Shriver Center’s David M. Cochran, MD on his recent grant award from the Eagles Autism Foundation. The two year, $400,000 award is slated to begin in FY ’22, and will allow Dr. Cochran and his team to study the potential effectiveness of using the drug gabapentin as part of a biomarker-driven drug treatment for autism.

This latest grant award continues a career-long research interest in child and adolescent psychiatry, neurodevelopmental disorders, and neuropsychopharmacology. Jean Frazier, MD, Executive Director of the Shriver Center and Robert M and Shirley S Siff Chair in Autism at UMASS Medical School, is also an internal collaborator on the project.

Outside of UMASS, Robert C. Schmidt, PhD, chair of the psychiatry department at College of the Holy Cross, will use his expertise to help determine if social behavioral interactions of participants change during the course of the study.

Congratulations to Dr. Cochran and everyone involved in this vitally important work!

For more information on the study, please read the longer article