Fred Robert Volkmar (born 1950 in Illinois) is a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

, and the

Irving B. Harris Irving B. Harris (August 4, 1910 – September 25, 2004) was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother Neison, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co. in January 1948 for ...

Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology at the

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

. From 2006 to 2014, he was the director of the

Yale Child Study Center The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...

and the head of child psychiatry at

Yale New Haven Hospital Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Haven ...

. Prior to these appointments, he was the director of the Autism Program at the Yale Child Study Center since 1983.

Personal life and education

Volkmar was raised in Sorento, Illinois. He obtained a B.S. in psychology from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

in 1972, where he worked with William Greenough on brain development. As an undergraduate, Volkmar published or collected data for seven papers; his first publication (''Rearing complexity affects branching of dendrites in the visual cortex of the rat'') appeared in

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

and earned him the

Psi Chi Psi Chi () is a college student honor society in psychology with international outreach founded in 1929 at the University of Kansas in the United States. Psi Chi is one of the largest honor societies in the United States, with more than 1,150 cha ...

national prize for research. During his time at the University of Illinois, Volkmar first came into contact with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

, and at the suggestion of a professor decided to pursue

child psychology Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development ...

. Volkmar received an M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine and an M.A. in psychology. While at Stanford, Volkmar spent some time in a school for autistic children.

Career

Medical

Volkmar was a resident and fellow in psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, joining Yale as a fellow for child and adolescent psychiatry in 1980. He became an assistant professor at Yale in 1982, founding the Developmental Disability Clinic in the same year. He was board certified in psychiatry and in child and adolescent psychiatry in 1988. In the same year, he was promoted to associate professor, becoming a full professor in 1998. He held the Irving B. Harris chair in 1987 and 1988, being appointed permanently in 2003.

Appointments

Volkmar was appointed director of the

in 2006, succeeding Alan E Kazdin, and served until 2014. Volkmar was the lead author of the section on autism in the fourth revision of the ''

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (DSM; latest edition: DSM-5-TR, published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a common langua ...

'' (DSM-IV) published in 1994, which saw the introduction of

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...

as a diagnosis. He was part of the work group on neurodevelopmental disorders for the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...

(2013) but resigned and, as of 2023, still believes the DSM-5 criteria are too strict, according to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Between 2007 and 2022, he was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders The ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal A medical journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that communicates medical information to physicians, other health professionals. Journals that cov ...

.'' As of 2023, Volkmar is the editor-in-chief of the ''Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders'' since publication of its first edition in 2013. He was an editor for the ''Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders'', overseeing the publication of its second, third, and fourth edition.

Recognition and awards

Volkmar received the Blanche F. Ittleson Award from the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

in 1997 and, in 2007, the George Tarjan Award for Research in Developmental Disabilities from the

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit professional association in the United States dedicated to facilitating psychiatric care for children and adolescents. The Academy is headquartered in Wa ...

References

Autism researchers American child psychiatrists Yale School of Medicine faculty Living people Medical journal editors 1950 births University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Stanford University School of Medicine alumni Stanford University fellows American child psychologists Yale University fellows {{DEFAULTSORT:Volkmar, Fred Robert