precedent for companies to provide insurance coverage for autism early intervention. At the UW Autism Center, she was director of three NIH Autism Center of Excellence Awards, which provided funding for a multi-disciplinary autism research program focusing on genetics, neuroimaging, early diagnosis, and treatment. Dawson also founded and oversaw a treatment center for autistic children and adolescents at the UW Autism Center, which provided multi-disciplinary diagnostic and treatment services for autistic children from infancy through late adolescence. Dawson has served as associate editor or editorial board member for seven scientific journals: Clinical Psychological Science, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Development and Psychopathology, Psychophysiology, Autism Research, Autism Research and Treatment, and the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Dawson's research has focused on early detection and intervention, brain function (using electrophysiology and functional magnetic resonance imaging), and genetic studies in autism. Her early work demonstrated that maternal depression is associated with differences in early brain activity and stress responses of infants and children. Her lab also demonstrated that autism signs can be detected in infants and described differences in early brain functioning in autism. Dawson and her colleagues used home videotapes to study early signs of autism and pioneered the use of electrophysiological techniques to study brain function in very young autistic children. Dawson's lab at the University of Washington described differences in social brain circuitry related to face processing in autism, apparent as early as six months of age, and defined a lifelong brain characteristic of autism. In collaboration with Dr. Sally J. Rogers, Dawson developed and empirically validated the Early Start Denver Model, the first comprehensive early intervention program for young autistic children. Autism Speaks Dawson was on faculty at the University of Washington from 1980 to 2008 when she left to become Autism Speaks' first chief science officer. At Autism Speaks, Dawson oversaw $20–30 million in annual research funding, including funding for the Autism Treatment Network, the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, the Autism Genome Project, and the Autism Tissue Program. Media and popular press coverage Dawson's work has been featured in the media, including programs such as the Jim Lehrer NewsHour, PBS Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda, The New York Times, among many others. Her research demonstrating that early intervention is associated with changes in brain activity in autistic children was recognized by Time magazine as one of the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2012. The Early Start