Meng-Chuan Lai

Research Synopsis

As a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Sex and Gender Science Chair, Dr. Lai’s work focuses on multi-level (biological, cognitive, behavioural, socio-cultural, and health service) research and clinical services to improve mental health and wellbeing of neurodivergent individuals with autism or related neurodevelopmental conditions, across sexes and genders. His research delineates how sex- and gender-related factors act as risk, protective, and modulating mechanisms for the behavioural presentation and adaptation, clinical recognition and diagnosis, and neurobiology and etiologies, of autism and co-occurring neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions. His work particularly focuses on the experiences of female and gender-diverse autistic people and the relations between neurodevelopmental conditions, sex differentiation, gender socialization, and mental health. Dr. Lai’s work also expands to social cognition, mind-brain-body interactions, psychiatric nosology (especially in clarifying the vast heterogeneity in psychiatric conditions) and cross-discipline integration.