Dr. Ecker is a lecturer in the Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences at the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP), with a special interest in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She originally trained as a psychologist at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and completed an MSc in neuroscience at the University of Oxford. She joined King’s College in 2001, originally as a PhD student at the IoP, and then as post-doctoral research associate in the Section of Brain Maturation. During this time she has been the lead researcher and project coordinator of the AIMS study (Autism Imaging Multicentre Study). The AIMS consortium is an MRC funded multidisciplinary network of autism research centres in the UK, and includes the Institute of Psychiatry (King’s College London), The Autism Research Centre (University of Cambridge), and the Autism Research Group (University of Oxford). In a collaborative effort, this study aims to establish the anatomy and connectivity of brain systems underlying symptoms of ASD, and to investigate their genetic mechanisms.

Dr. Ecker’s current work is directed towards establishing neuroanatomy as a biomarker for ASD, which may be utilized in the MRI-assisted diagnosis of autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions.