At Duke University, Dr. Franz is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Global Health and Associate Director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, an interdisciplinary research and clinical center serving autistic individuals and their families. She is a Board Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, and her research focuses on improving access to evidence-based autism services. In 2015, Dr. Franz received a 5-year mentored career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health, issued to build research capacity in global mental health. This grant supported training in evidence-based autism intervention and implementation science. In 2019, she was awarded a Global Brain and Nervous System Disorders Research Across the Lifespan R21, which supports collaborative research and capacity building projects in areas relevant to low and middle income countries, and in 2022 she received the companion R01 award. Dr. Franz is the UNICEF Technical Lead for a UNICEF/WHO project developing a comprehensive approach to provide care and support for young autistic children and their families. In the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded Duke Autism Center of Excellence P50 program, she leads the Dissemination and Outreach Core which supports the Duke Autism Center of Excellence by disseminating research findings to and ensuring robust bi-directional communication with the scientific, provider, and autism communities.