Speaker Faculty

Sarah is a clinical psychologist by background and leads the National Diagnostic and Assessment services at the National Autistic Society which provides diagnostic assessments across the lifespan. After she qualified she worked as a research scientist with Dr Lorna Wing at the MRC where she completed her PhD. She then worked in university roles providing postgraduate professional training and has over 35 years as a clinician in the NHS. Throughout her career she has worked in adult mental health, acute and community paediatric services, CAMHS as well as intellectual disability services. She has always been passionate about improving autistic people’s access to support services and making diagnostic services more clinically effective. Her early research was looking at the early detection of developmental differences related to autism and throughout her career she has always been keen to highlight the importance of early diagnosis in autism and the difference this can make to quality of life outcomes for autistic people.