Rajesh Kana

Rajesh Kana is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), specializing in social cognitive neuroscience and autism spectrum disorders. He directs the Cognition, Brain and Autism Laboratory and has published extensively on neuroimaging, language processing, and educational needs of at-risk children. His research employs fMRI to study brain connectivity and social cognition in autism.

Research interests include neural mechanisms of emotion processing, theory of mind, and language in neurodevelopmental disorders. Recent work explores deception detection, driving behaviors in ASD/ADHD, and psychopathology in autistic adults.

Articles demonstrate a focus on fMRI, structural brain analysis, and behavioral assessments in autism and ADHD, with applications to education and mental health interventions.

Grants & Labs

• Director, Cognition, Brain and Autism Laboratory at UAB
• Co-PI on IES-funded efficacy trials for intervention research