Robert Schultz

Robert T. Schultz is the R.A.C. Endowed Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology in the Departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He directs the Center for Autism Research (CAR) at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and has led NIH-funded autism research since 1995. His work bridges clinical psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and developmental disorders, with a focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), social attention deficits, and neuroimaging biomarkers.

Education and training include a BA in Psychology from the University of Delaware, a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas, Austin, and postdoctoral training at Yale University. He transitioned to CHOP/UPenn in 2007 after 15 years on Yale’s faculty.

Research interests span social cognition, brain-behavior relationships in ASD, early developmental biomarkers, and big data strategies for clinical translation. Key projects include the Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) network and development of the SPARK cohort. Recent studies emphasize social motivation theory, amygdala connectivity, and applications of AI in autism screening.

Grants and advising: Continuous NIH funding since 1995; advised graduate students in Psychology and Neuroscience, including Maya McNealis. Collaborates widely on comorbidities like sleep disturbance and ADHD in ASD.

Labs/teams: CAR Director; co-lead in the IBIS network; affiliated with the PennCHOP Microbiome Program and Roberts Center for Pediatric Research.