Paul Shattuck, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the Drexel University School of Public Health. He also serves as the leader of the A.J. Drexel Autism Institute’s Life Course Outcomes Research Program. Most of his current research is aimed at understanding services and related outcomes among youth with autism as they leave high school and transition to young adulthood.

Dr. Shattuck conducts innovative research that informs advocacy, policymaking and service design for people with developmental disabilities and special health care needs. In April 2015, he published the “National Autism Indicators Report: Transition into Young Adulthood” that presented new findings about a wide range of experiences and outcomes of youth on the autism spectrum between high school and their early 20s, including new safety and risk indicators. His work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, Autism Speaks, the Emch Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Organization for Autism Research. His research publications have appeared in high-impact scientific journals, including Pediatrics, Psychiatric Services, the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. His op-ed pieces have also appeared in leading newspapers, including The New York Times.

Dr. Shattuck’s autism research has achieved a high degree of impact. Both Autism Speaks and the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee recognized his 2009 study on the age of diagnosis as one of the most important autism studies of the year. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee recognized Shattuck’s 2011 study on the use of services by adults with autism as one of the 20 most impactful scientific studies in the field of autism. Autism Speaks named his study about postsecondary education and job outcomes among young adults with autism one of the Top 10 Autism Research Advances of 2012.

Dr. Shattuck previously served as an associate professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. His professional background includes work in the nonprofit sector and his education includes degrees in social work, sociology and postdoctoral training in epidemiology.