Imitation and the Social Mind: Autism and Typical Development (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781593853112)

Sally J. Rogers, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the MIND Institute, UC Davis Health, University of California, Davis. A developmental psychologist, she has been involved at the international level in major clinical and research activities on autism for many decades. She has served as president of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) and was a member of the DSM-5 Work Group on autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions. Dr. Rogers has spent her entire career studying cognitive and social-communicative development and intervention in young children with disabilities and has published over 300 scientific papers, books, and chapters. As a licensed psychologist, she has provided clinical care to hundreds of infants and young children and their families in Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, and California. Dr. Rogers is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and INSAR, and has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field of developmental disabilities. She is ranked in the top 1% of Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers.

Justin H. G. Williams, MRCPsych, commenced his scientific career in 1993, studying ecology and evolutionary biology before pursuing postgraduate training in psychiatry. He specialized in child psychiatry and moved to Scotland, where he started working with Andrew Whiten and David Perrett from the University of St. Andrews. Together, they considered the relationship of imitation to autism at a time when "mirror neurons" were a new phenomenon. In 2000 Dr. Williams became Senior Lecturer in Child Psychiatry, University of Aberdeen, where he has developed a research program to understand the neural substrate of autism. He also serves as Honorary Consultant in Child Psychiatry at Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital.