Michael Fitzgerald was the Henry Marsh Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Trinity College, Dublin and the first Professor of Child Psychiatry in Ireland in 1996. A Clinical and Research Consultant to the Irish Society for Autism and Honorary member of the Northern Ireland Institute of Human Relations. He has a doctorate in the area of autism and has researched this area since 1973. He trained at St. Patrick’s Hospital Dublin, Chicago Medical School, The Maudsley Hospital and the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London. He has clinically diagnosed over 2600 individuals with Autism and Asperger’s syndrome and has served on the Government Task Force on Autism and the family as well as similar task forces in Northern Ireland. He has contributed to National and International Journals on autism and has written, co –written, edited or co-edited 25 books. He became an associate member of the British Psychoanalytic Society and the International Psychoanalytic Association in 1980 . He is a member of the British Institute of Psychoanalysis. He initiated the first Masters programme in Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the 1980’s. In the 1990’s he developed with Dr. Mary Smith a Masters programme in Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Trinity College Dublin and with Nessa Childers, Ross Skelton, Ann Murphy and others a Masters programme in Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Trinity College Dublin. He founded the Journal the Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and the Irish Journal for Child Psychotherapy. He had a long period of experience to an Inpatient Unit for child and adolescent psychiatric problems as well as Autism and Learning Disability in Dublin. He has worked in the field of autism since 1973. His other special interest is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He is a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. His book “Autism and Creativity – Is There a Link Between Autism in Men and Exceptional Ability”, was described as the best book on Autism by Simon Baron-Cohen in Cambridge and as a ‘must read’ by nature. He has been an External Examiner at the University of London, Queens University Belfast and University College Dublin. He is on the (Adult) Psychiatry Specialist Medical Register and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Medical Register of the Irish Medical Council.