Autistic people of all ages are significantly more likely to think about suicide and die by suicide than the general population. Science and medicine reporter Corinne Purtill takes a deep dive into the issues they and their families face in her series, ‘Mental Health on the Spectrum.’
Corinne Purtill is a science and medicine reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing on science and human behavior has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Time Magazine, the BBC and elsewhere. Before joining The Times, she worked as the senior London correspondent for GlobalPost (now PRI) and as a reporter and assignment editor at the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh. She is a native of Southern California and a graduate of Stanford University.
Defne Karabatur is platforms analyst at the Los Angeles Times. She graduated from UC Berkeley, where she studied applied mathematics, English and political economy, and previously was a 2023-24 Times fellow. Karabatur got her start in journalism working for the Daily Californian, Berkeley’s independent, student-run newspaper, where she was the 2022-23 creative director. She grew up in Connecticut and Istanbul.
Lara Hochuli is the senior editor on the Los Angeles Times’ Editorial Video team. In a 15-year career, Hochuli has helped bring more than one newsroom into the modern age, including a decade at the San Diego Union-Tribune and a previous stint at The Times with “LA Times Today.” Her work has been recognized with a number of acknowledgments from the Society of Professional Journalists, a handful of San Diego Press Club accolades, and four Emmy Awards.
