Daniel A. Abrams

Dr. Daniel A. Abrams is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His research focuses on the neurobiological basis of social communication impairments in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), particularly how atypical reward attribution to social stimuli like voices and faces impacts development. He employs techniques such as functional MRI, psychophysics, and cognitive assessments to identify neural markers of social and memory deficits in ASD.

Dr. Abrams received his Ph.D. in Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience from Northwestern University (2008) and a B.F.A. from the University of Arizona (1994). His work has been funded by NIH, NARSAD, and the National Organization for Hearing Research Foundation. He leads the Speech and Social Neuroscience Lab at Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory.

Scientific awards include the K01 Research Scientist Development Award (NIH/NIMH, 2014-2017), NARSAD grant (2019-2021), and a 2017 CHRI Pilot Early Career Award. His recent publications highlight neural circuitry in voice processing, memory impairments linked to hyperconnectivity, and efficacy of clinic-home-school collaborative interventions for autistic adolescents.

Key research trends: Autism neurodevelopment, reward/salience circuit dysfunction, social communication biomarkers, voice prosody decoding, and memory plasticity. Dr. Abrams’ full description below details his academic trajectory, grants, student collaborations, and clinical trial leadership.