My main research interests are the genetics of autism and schizophrenia. I started to work in the genetics of schizophrenia over 20 years, 23 years, ago, and then I started a little bit later also to get interested in the genetics of autism.

I did my postdoctoral fellowship in Stanford. I came in 1989; it’s not quite 20 years. 1989, that’s when I started to work on autism. Came to Stanford and did then a postdoctoral fellowship because I was trained in medicine, but I realized that I needed much more training in genetics. So the way to do this is doing a postdoctoral fellowship. I did my postdoctoral fellowship with Luca Cavalli-Sforza, here at Stanford in the genetics department. And then worked later as a research associate for two years with Roland Ciaranello, but still my appointment was also in genetics. So I had this appointment in psychiatry and genetics and then I became an associate professor at the University of Western Australia. So I went basically on the other side of the globe.

I first thought it was a crazy idea, but then I thought, “I’ve never been to Australia. Let’s give it a look.” I went down there and liked it a lot, and then I felt it was a good opportunity. I was anyhow at the time in my career where I had to move on. I mean, I had to basically become independent. And I think the best way to become independent is to change institutions. Now, one doesn’t always have to do it so radically that you move to another continent, but at least it gives you the opportunity to really do independent work. And that’s what I did.

And so for some of my research, what I’m interested in, it offered some really unique opportunities because I have public healthcare systems I have access to our records, which is much difficult to get in a country like the U.S. with a private healthcare system.