Dr. Giacomo Vivanti is an Associate Professor and the leader of the Early Detection and Intervention research program at the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute.
His career as a scientist is driven by a key commitment to understand and address the social learning difficulties observed in young children with autism. This focus reflects his life experience of growing up with two brothers diagnosed with autism, as well as his diverse clinical and research training. This has included a PhD in Cognitive Science at the University of Siena, Italy, a postdoctoral fellowship in the Autism Research Postdoctoral Training Program at the University of California Davis MIND Institute, and a Research Fellow position at the La Trobe University Olga Tennison Autism Research Center in Melbourne, Australia.
Dr. Vivanti’s research involves eye-tracking and behavioral paradigms to investigate early learning processes in young children with autism, as well as clinical trials and community-based participatory research to evaluate, optimize and customize early interventions for children with autism. His research has been funded through a diverse portfolio of federal and foundation grants.
Dr. Vivanti is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Early Intervention and the Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. He is an officer of the International Society for Autism Research Early Career Committee (supporting junior faculty autism researchers worldwide), and a consultant for clinical, research, and policy organizations related to autism in the US, Europe and Australia. Dr Vivanti has served on several scientific grant review panels, including the US Department of Defense Autism Research Program. Additionally, he is a certified therapist and trainer in the Early Start Denver Model, an evidence-based early intervention for young children with autism.
Dr Vivanti has presented at more than100 national and international conferences on topics related to early learning and early intervention in autism, and he is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific articles on autism. He is the lead author of the manuals “Clinical Guide to Early Interventions for Children with Autism” and “Implementing the Group-Based Early Start Denver Model for young children with Autism”.