Born May 25, 1941, in Rockenhausen, Rhineland-Palitinate, Germany. She completed her undergraduate degree in experimental psychology a the Universitaet des Saarlandes, in Saarbrücken, Germany; before training in clinical psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. She also completed a Ph.D in autism, in 1968.
Uta Frith is best known for her research on autism spectrum disorders. Her book, Autism: Explaining the Enigma (1989), has been translated into several languages. She was one of the people responsible for launching the study of Asperger's Syndrome, in the UK. Also worth mentioning is her work on reading development, spelling and dyslexia, which has been highly influential. Frith's work on the theory of mind in autism, proposes that people with autism have certain difficulties with understanding other people's beliefs and desires. Much of this research was carried out with Simon Baron-Cohen, who was a Ph.D student of Uta's. Uta also suggested that individuals with autism have "weak central coherance" and are better than those without autism at processing details but worse at incorporating information from different sources.
Throughout Uta's career, she has been developing a neuro-cognitive approach to developmental disorders. She has focused particularly on cognitive processes that fail in autism and dyslexia. Her goal is to uncover the causes of these disorders and to link them to behavioral symptoms and brain systems; as well as making the research relevant for disabled people and contribute to the betterment of their everyday lives.
Uta Frith is a fellow of the Royal Society, the British Academy & Academy of Medical Sciences. She is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Development at University College London and Research Foundation Professor at the Faculties of Humanities & Health Sciences, at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
Side notes:
Simon Baron-Cohen- a British clinical psychologist. He's made major contributions to cognitive sex differences, autism prevalence & screening, autism genetics & autism & technical ability. He is also the cousin of actor, Sacha Baron-Cohen
http://www.histmodbiomed.org/article/professor-uta-frith.html
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Women in Science, Medicine and Mathematics
Non-FictionWomen who have contributed to the fields of science, medicine and math. They paved the way for future generations, made groundbreaking discoveries, many times while being outshone or downtrodden by their male counterparts.
