{ "id": "eptmercyvg", "slug": "ami-klin", "title": "Ami Klin", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "life", "label": "Life and health", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life" }, { "id": "life.scientists", "label": "Life and health scientists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists" }, { "id": "life.scientists.medicine-health", "label": "Medical and health researchers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists.medicine-health" }, { "id": "life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro" }, { "id": "life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro.child-neurology-and-neurodevelopment", "label": "Child neurology and neurodevelopment", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro.child-neurology-and-neurodevelopment" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.life", "label": "Life and health", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.life" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.life.scientists", "label": "Life and health scientists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.life.scientists" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health", "label": "Medical and health researchers", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro", "label": "Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Ami Klin is a British-trained clinical psychologist and autism researcher who directs Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta and pioneered eye-tracking measures of social attention in infants.", "snippet": "Ami Klin is a British-trained clinical psychologist and autism researcher who directs Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta and pioneered eye-tracking measures of social attention in infants.", "node": "life.scientists.medicine-health.med-neuro.child-neurology-and-neurodevelopment", "markdown": "# Ami Klin\n\n**Ami Klin** is a British-trained clinical psychologist and autism researcher who directs Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta, holds a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar professorship, and serves as Division Chief of Autism and Neurodevelopment at Emory University School of Medicine[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin). He is best known for pioneering eye-tracking measurements of social visual engagement in infants, work that produced the first FDA-authorized biomarker-based diagnostic aid for autism, EarliPoint Evaluation[2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism). With his longtime collaborator Warren Jones, he showed that infants later diagnosed with autism begin losing attention to other people's eyes within the first months of life[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Current roles | Director of Marcus Autism Center; GRA Eminent Scholar Professor; Division Chief of Autism and Neurodevelopment, Emory School of Medicine[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin) |\n| Signature finding | Infants later diagnosed with autism show a mean decline in eye fixation within the first 2 to 6 months of life, described as the earliest known indicators of social disability in infancy[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/) |\n| Diagnostic performance | 71.0% sensitivity and 80.7% specificity versus expert clinical diagnosis in a 475-child multisite trial; 81.9%/89.9% in a 719-child discovery sample[4](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2808996) • [5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909) |\n| FDA translation | EarliPoint Evaluation authorized in June 2022, with the second-generation device authorized in June 2023 and extending use to children aged 16 months to 95 months; first clinical use August 7, 2023[6](https://earlipointhealth.com/jama-publishes-two-large-studies-demonstrating-the-diagnostic-accuracy-of-earlitecs-evaluation-for-autism-in-children-as-young-as-16-months/) • [2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism) |\n| How the test works | 14 video scenes of social interaction, about 54 seconds each, totaling 12 minutes 35.5 seconds; gaze sampled 120 times per second[5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909) • [2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism) |\n| Career | Doctorate from the University of London; Yale Child Study Center from 1989, Harris Professor, directed its Autism Program until 2010; moved to Emory in 2011[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin) • [7](https://gra.org/stories/1052/) |\n| Honors | Ruane Prize from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, 2018; leader of five NIH P50 grants[8](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership) • [9](https://childmind.org/bio/ami-klin-phd/) |\n\n## Early training and the Yale years\n\nKlin obtained his doctorate from the [University of London](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-london) and completed clinical and research post-doctoral fellowships at the Yale Child Study Center[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin). His 1988 thesis, which won a university prize for outstanding scholarship, tested social preferences in autistic and typically developing toddlers using a two-button toy he built that played either his mother's voice or non-intelligible speech sounds[10](https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ami-klin-warren-jones-melding-art-and-science-for-autism/). He came to Yale in 1989 to study autism, and about a decade later recruited Warren Jones, then a 22-year-old sculptor and mechanical engineer who had taught art to children with autism[10](https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ami-klin-warren-jones-melding-art-and-science-for-autism/).\n\nAt Yale he was the Harris Professor of Child Psychology and [Psychiatry](https://www.edgepedia.org/psychiatry) and directed the Autism Program at the Child Study Center until 2010[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin). With support from the [Simons Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/simons-foundation), the [National Institute of Mental Health](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-institute-of-mental-health), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, his group was monitoring babies at risk for autism from birth for indicators of the condition[11](https://web.archive.org/web/20100618180455/www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/faculty/klin.html).\n\n## Move to Emory and Marcus Autism Center\n\nIn 2011 the Georgia Research Alliance worked with Emory and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta to recruit Klin and his team, including Jones, from Yale; the Marcus Foundation more than matched the state of Georgia's investment[7](https://gra.org/stories/1052/). Klin became Director of Marcus Autism Center, which treats more than 5,500 children with autism and related disorders a year and is among the largest autism centers in the United States; Emory's 2013 announcement described it as one of only three NIH Autism Centers of Excellence, while the Georgia Research Alliance has described it as one of five NIH-designated centers[1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin) • [12](https://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/11/new-study-identifies-signs-autism-first-months-life) • [7](https://gra.org/stories/1052/).\n\n## Social visual engagement and the 2013 infant study\n\nThe paradigm Klin and Jones developed measures where a child looks while watching videos of social interaction. In their longitudinal infant sibling study, they collected eye-tracking data at 10 time points (months 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, and 24) in 110 infants: 59 at high risk for autism as full siblings of a child with autism, and 51 at low risk; diagnostic status was ascertained at 24 and 36 months[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/). High-risk infants carried roughly a 20-fold elevated risk relative to low-risk infants[12](https://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/11/new-study-identifies-signs-autism-first-months-life).\n\nThe 2013 report in *Nature* found that infants later diagnosed with autism showed declining attention to other people's eyes from age 2 months onward, a pattern not observed in infants who did not develop autism; Klin described a steady decline from 2 to 24 months, with the steepest declines predicting the greatest later social disability[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/) • [12](https://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/11/new-study-identifies-signs-autism-first-months-life). These observations were described as the earliest known indicators of social disability in infancy[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/). Klin and Jones have argued that the conserved nature, early onset, and critical role of eye fixation in socialization support reducing the age of autism diagnosis through developmental social neuroscience[13](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4399764/). In their infant experiments, 82% of 12-month-olds tested were successfully engaged and finished the sessions, and the group has run experiments on infants as young as 3 months, including videos of the mother shown in real time[10](https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ami-klin-warren-jones-melding-art-and-science-for-autism/).\n\n## By the numbers\n\nTwo 2023 validation studies quantified the biomarker's accuracy against expert clinical diagnosis. In a multisite, prospective, double-blind study of 475 children aged 16 to 30 months assessed in 6 US specialty clinics (enrolled April 2018 to May 2019), measurement of social visual engagement showed 71.0% sensitivity (95% CI 64.7 to 76.6%) and 80.7% specificity (95% CI 75.4 to 85.1%); in the subgroup of 335 children whose diagnosis was certain, sensitivity was 78.0% and specificity 85.4%[4](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2808996). In two prospective double-blind studies totaling 1,089 children (719 discovery, 370 replication), the biomarker achieved AUC 0.90, sensitivity 81.9%, and specificity 89.9% in discovery, and AUC 0.89, sensitivity 80.6%, and specificity 82.3% in replication[5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909).\n\nThe test itself presents 14 video scenes of social interaction, each averaging about 54.0 seconds, totaling 12 minutes 35.5 seconds of viewing[5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909). The device collects gaze data 120 times per second, providing objective measurements in as little as 12 minutes, compared with multiple hours of clinician assessment[2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism). Test results also correlate with expert clinical assessments of social disability (r = −0.75), verbal ability (r = 0.65), and nonverbal cognitive ability (r = 0.65)[4](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2808996). Klin and Jones frame the public-health case in economic terms: the yearly cost of autism to US society is estimated in excess of $136 billion, and lifetime care for one individual at $2,400,000, while symptoms are present by 18 to 24 months in the majority of cases[13](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4399764/).\n\n## EarliPoint: FDA authorization and clinical translation\n\nIn June 2022 the FDA awarded 510(k) clearance to EarliPoint, allowing clinicians to determine the likelihood that a child as young as 16 months has autism[7](https://gra.org/stories/1052/). A second-generation device was authorized in June 2023, extending use to children aged 16 months to 95 months; the technology, called Dynamic Quantification of Social-Visual Engagement, captures moment-by-moment looking behavior at 120 samples per second and reports Severity Indices for social disability, verbal ability, and non-verbal learning[6](https://earlipointhealth.com/jama-publishes-two-large-studies-demonstrating-the-diagnostic-accuracy-of-earlitecs-evaluation-for-autism-in-children-as-young-as-16-months/). The expanded age indication followed a separate trial with 612 additional children, on top of the roughly 1,089-child feasibility work and the approximately 475-child multisite trial[14](https://acuity.news/technology/earlipoint-fda-clearance-autism-assessment-age-eight/).\n\nThe tool was used for the first time in clinic on August 7, 2023, at Marcus Autism Center[2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism). Klin and Jones spent more than 20 years studying early signs of autism to develop the biomarker, and the second-generation device is portable, can be operated remotely with internet connectivity[2](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism). Adoption outside Atlanta began early: in March 2024 the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the [University of Nebraska Medical Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-nebraska-medical-center) began piloting the device as part of some autism diagnosis procedures[15](https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2024/03/27/munroe-meyer-institute-pilots-new-autism-diagnostic-tool/).\n\n## Comparison with other screening approaches\n\nIts developmental evidence comes from a sibling-recruitment design, in which high-risk infants (younger siblings of children with autism) were followed from 2 months with 10 repeated eye-tracking sessions[3](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/). The reported accuracy of the eye-tracking biomarker itself varies by study, from 71.0% sensitivity in the 475-child multisite trial to 81.9% in the 719-child discovery sample[4](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2808996) • [5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909).\n\n## Honors and funding\n\nIn 2018 Klin received the Ruane Prize from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation for outstanding achievement in child and adolescent psychiatric research[8](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership). He has led five NIH P50 grants in autism research and is the author of more than 230 publications by his center's count, or over 250 by the Child Mind Institute's[9](https://childmind.org/bio/ami-klin-phd/) • [1](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin). The validation studies were funded in part by the Marcus Foundation, the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, the Georgia Research Alliance, and NIH grants including MH100029 and MH100019[5](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Ami Klin, PhD, Marcus Autism Center leadership biography](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership/ami-klin)\n2. [Marcus Autism Center Launches First-Of-Its-Kind FDA-Authorized Device for Early Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (Sept. 5, 2023)](https://www.choa.org/about-us/newsroom/marcus-launches-first-of-its-kind-fda-authorized-device-for-early-diagnosis-of-autism)\n3. [Jones & Klin (2013), longitudinal infant eye-tracking study, PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4035120/)\n4. [Eye-Tracking–Based Measurement of Social Visual Engagement Compared With Expert Clinical Diagnosis of Autism, JAMA (2023)](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2808996)\n5. [Development and Replication of Objective Measurements of Social Visual Engagement to Aid in Early Diagnosis and Assessment of Autism, JAMA Network Open (2023)](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2808909)\n6. [JAMA Publishes Two Large Studies Demonstrating the Diagnostic Accuracy of EarliTec's Evaluation for Autism, EarliTec Diagnostics](https://earlipointhealth.com/jama-publishes-two-large-studies-demonstrating-the-diagnostic-accuracy-of-earlitecs-evaluation-for-autism-in-children-as-young-as-16-months/)\n7. [Georgia Research Alliance story on Ami Klin and EarliPoint](https://gra.org/stories/1052/)\n8. [Meet our Leadership, Marcus Autism Center](https://www.marcus.org/about-marcus-autism-center/meet-our-leadership)\n9. [Ami Klin, PhD, Child Mind Institute biography](https://childmind.org/bio/ami-klin-phd/)\n10. [Ami Klin & Warren Jones: Melding art and science for autism, The Transmitter](https://www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/ami-klin-warren-jones-melding-art-and-science-for-autism/)\n11. [Ami Klin, Ph.D., archived Yale faculty page (2010)](https://web.archive.org/web/20100618180455/www.med.yale.edu/chldstdy/faculty/klin.html)\n12. [New study identifies signs of autism in the first months of life, Emory News (Nov. 2013)](https://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/11/new-study-identifies-signs-autism-first-months-life)\n13. [Reducing age of autism diagnosis: developmental social neuroscience meets public health challenge, Molecular Autism](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4399764/)\n14. [FDA Clears EarliPoint Autism Tool for Ages 16 Months to 8 Years, Acuity News](https://acuity.news/technology/earlipoint-fda-clearance-autism-assessment-age-eight/)\n15. [Munroe-Meyer Institute pilots new autism diagnostic tool, UNMC Newsroom (March 2024)](https://www.unmc.edu/newsroom/2024/03/27/munroe-meyer-institute-pilots-new-autism-diagnostic-tool/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Medical and health researchers › Researchers in clinical neuroscience, neurology, and psychiatry research › Child neurology and neurodevelopment*\n\n*Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Ami Klin\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Ami Klin](https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin](https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Ami Klin\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/ami-klin. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Ami Klin is a British-trained clinical psychologist and autism researcher who directs Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta and pioneered eye-tracking measures of social attention in infants." }