ORIGINAL PAPER Trends in US Autism Research Funding Jennifer Singh Æ Judy Illes Æ Laura Lazzeroni Æ Joachim Hallmayer Published online: 16 January 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract This study shows that the number of autism research grants funded in the US from 1997 to 2006 sig- nificantly increased 15% per year. Although the majority of projects were concentrated in basic science (65%) compared to clinical (15%) and translational research (20%), there is a significant decrease in the proportion of basic research grants per year and a significant increase in the proportion of translational projects per year. The number of translational projects funded by the National Alliance for Autism Research and Cure Autism Now increased significantly, whereas the number of clinical projects significantly increased for the National Institutes of Health. In conclu- sion, this study demonstrates the shifting landscape of autism research from basic science to clinical and transla- tional research. Keywords Autism spectrum disorder Á Funding Á Neurogenetics Á Treatment Á Diagnosis Introduction During the last two decades autism has moved from relative obscurity to the center of media attention and public awareness. No other child psychiatric disorder has seen such an increase in fund raising activities and lobbying for federal dollars. Public expectations of quick breakthroughs in aut- ism research, especially among parents of children with autism, are very high (Aarons and Gittens 1999; Bazell 2005). Very little is known about the causes of autism and no specific brain pathology has been described. Abnormalities found in a relatively small number of postmortem brains are subtle and not restricted to one particular brain area (Bau- man and Kemper 2005). Currently there are no drugs that affect the core symptoms of autism (Rutter 2006) and the mainstay of therapy is behavioral. Not surprisingly, many parents put their trust in one of the increasing number of alternative therapies and are becoming more and more critical of mainstream medical treatments (Levy et al. 2003; Hanson et al. 2007). In this climate, setting funding priorities is a daunting task and questions about the types of studies that have benefited most from the recent funding boost, and their impact, must be asked. It is also important to delineate the changes in autism research and the degree successes of basic research have been translated into promising clinical trials and treatment for individuals with autism. Funding for autism research within the National Insti- tutes of Health (NIH) has increased fivefold since 1997, J. Singh Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Center for Integration of Research on Genetics and Ethics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA J. Illes Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA Present Address: J. Illes Faculty of Medicine, National Core for Neuroethics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada L. Lazzeroni Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA J. Hallmayer (&) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development, Stanford University School of Medicine, 1201 Welch Road, MSLS Building, Room P112, Stanford, CA 94304, USA e-mail: joachimh@stanford.edu 123 J Autism Dev Disord (2009) 39:788–795 DOI 10.1007/s10803-008-0685-0