Suma Jacob, M.D., Ph.D. 

Director 

Suma Jacob, MD, PhD is the director of the Autism Research Program and co-director of the CAN Lab at the University of Minnesota. She is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. Suma received honors for her AB undergraduate degree at The University of Chicago and her thesis on “Hemispheric Asymmetries in Attention on a Lateralized Continuous Performance Task”. Continuing at the UofC, she did her PhD and post-doctoral research in the emerging field of social neuroscience. She studied hormone-pathway chemical signals and how they act as modulator pheromones to influence another human’s biology, mood, and unconscious behaviors. Dr. Jacob completed her medical training at UofC and residency in adult, child, and adolescent psychiatry at UCLA, UofC, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is double board certified and her research focuses on biomarkers, genetic risk, and treatment targets for neurodevelopmental disorders including autism. Her transdiagnostic research focuses on compulsive and social behaviors; her therapeutic modalities include group and systems interventions. Her current work focuses on data-driven approaches in early development that will differentially predict dimensional and categorical diagnostic outcomes.