CAMBRIDGE — Professor Simon Baron-Cohen will oversee a new autism research centre at the University of Cambridge, established with a £26 million ($34.5 million) gift from U.S. philanthropist Lisa Yang. This funding will create the K Lisa Yang Centre for Autism Research and a clinical autism centre within a future Cambridge children's hospital.

Baron-Cohen expressed regret regarding his past use of the term "extreme male brain" to describe autism. "Some of those terms were very easily misunderstood and so I do regret that. It can lead to simplistic headlines like 'autistic people lack empathy', which is not true. Some of that language, like male brain and female brain, I just don't think it's useful today," he said. He noted that his research indicates autistic individuals often differ in cognitive empathy but not affective empathy.

The research centre is expected to focus on improving life expectancy, health outcomes, earlier diagnosis, and practical solutions to enhance the quality of life for autistic people. Recent findings from Baron-Cohen's team suggest autistic individuals may face a substantially increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed, involved data from 141,672 people.

The team's conclusions detailed that autistic women were at a 71% higher risk of experiencing a heart attack, stroke, and other serious cardiac events, even after accounting for known risk factors like blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. "Although people think of autism as to do with the mind and the brain, what's been neglected is the fact that autistic people tend to die younger," Baron-Cohen said. He further explained that, historically, the link between autism and cardiovascular disease was not a research priority, but the topic emerged from the autism community.

The new centre will likely explore the physical health experiences of autistic women, including challenges related to childbirth and menstrual issues. The number of autism diagnoses in the UK increased by nearly 800% between 1998 and 2018. Additionally, from 2024 to 2025, referrals of children with possible autism to mental health services rose by almost 50% in a single year. Baron-Cohen's team is conducting a pilot program to assess whether general practitioners can diagnose autism as accurately as specialized referral centers.