Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who uses molecular and translational neuroscience tools in the pursuit of new treatments for autism spectrum disorder and pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder. His molecular laboratory focuses on genetic mouse models with abnormal social or compulsive-like behavior. His translational research program at the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain studies potential treatments for autism spectrum disorder and related genetic syndromes. Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele trained with Edwin H. Cook, M.D., at the University of Chicago and Randy Blakely, Ph.D., at Vanderbilt University. He moved from Vanderbilt to Columbia University in 2014 and became the Ruane Professor and Division Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2017. Dr. Veenstra-VanderWeele serves as an Associate Editor of Autism Research, the Journal of the International Society for Autism Research. He also co-chairs the Autism and Intellectual Disability Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and Autism Speaks. His work has garnered multiple awards, including the Blanche Ittelson Award for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association.