Dr. Richard C. Deth, PhD

After completing my pharmacy degree in 1970 (SUNY at Buffalo)  I obtained my PhD at University of Miami (1975) and spent a postdoctoral year at Leuven University in Belgium before taking a faculty position at Northeastern University in 1976. During my 38 years  in Boston I focused on understanding neurotransmitter receptor signaling at a detailed level and ended up discovering a novel activity of the D4 dopamine receptor involving phospholipid methylation. This led to an appreciation of its role in attention and epigenetic regulation of gene expression, ultimately connecting me to autism and, through Defeat Autism Now!, connected me to the autism community, giving meaning and purpose to my research. After retiring from Northeastern In 2014 I took a position at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale where we continue to pursue a better understanding of the origins of autism and search for new and more effective treatments. I am currently Director of the Brain Research and Integrated Nutrition Center at Nova Southeastern University.