 She has published extensively in peer-reviewed scientific journals on autism and the effects of early experience on the developing brain.Dawson is currently William Cleland Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, and Founding Director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development.Early in her career, Dawson was an assistant professor of child clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and affiliate of the TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children) program from 1980–1985.