Kenneth S. Kendler (born July 12, 1950) is an American

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 ...

best known for his pioneering research in

psychiatric genetics Psychiatric genetics is a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics and behavioral genetics which studies the role of genetics in the development of mental disorders (such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism). The basic principle ...

, particularly the genetic causes of schizophrenia. Kendler is one of the highest cited psychiatry researchers. Between 1990 and 1998 he was the 2nd highest cited psychiatrist, and for the 1997-2007 decade he was ranked 4th by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre. Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...

' ''Science Watch''. He has authored over 1,200 papers and in 2016 his

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

was 126. Kendler's group was also noted for the replication of a study of

Avshalom Caspi Avshalom Caspi (born May 5, 1960) is an Israeli-American psychologist and the Edward M. Arnett Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, as well as Professor of Personality Developm ...

on the

interaction Interaction is action that occurs between two or more objects, with broad use in philosophy and the sciences. It may refer to: Science * Interaction hypothesis, a theory of second language acquisition * Interaction (statistics) * Interactions o ...

of stressful life events and a

serotonin transporter The serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT) also known as the sodium-dependent serotonin transporter and solute carrier family 6 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC6A4 gene. SERT is a type of monoamine transporter protein tha ...

polymorphism in the prediction of episodes of

major depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

. Kendler is a Banks Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Human Genetics, and Director of the

Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics (abbreviated VIPBG) is a human genetics research center, located at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), that aims to study the role played by genetic factors in the etiology of psych ...

at the

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

. Kendler is also one of the two Editors of ''

Psychological Medicine ''Psychological Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of psychiatry and related aspects of psychology and basic sciences. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 7.723. History ...

''. He served on the Work Group that revised the

DSM-III 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 ...

, on the Task Force for

DSM-IV 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 ...

, and on 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 ...

Work Group for

Mood Disorders A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where a disturbance in the person's mood is the main underlying feature. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic and Stat ...

. Kendler is also interested in philosophical issues in psychiatry. Kendler co-wrote with Edith Zerbin-Rüdin, daughter of Nazi psychiatrist

Ernst Rüdin Ernst Rüdin (19 April 1874 – 22 October 1952) was a Swiss-born German psychiatrist, geneticist, eugenicist and Nazi, rising to prominence under Emil Kraepelin and assuming the directorship at the German Institute for Psychiatric Rese ...

, a history of Ernst Rüdin’s work during World War II. During World War II, Rudin was a member of the Nazi

Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy The Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy (german: Sachverständigen-Beirat für Bevölkerungsfragen und Rassenpolitik) was a Nazi Germany committee formed on 2 June 1933 that planned Nazi racial policy. On July 14, 1933, th ...

who vociferously advocated the extermination of individuals with schizophrenia. Kendler is the second son of Howard H. Kendler and Tracy Kendler, both of whom were influential academic psychologists. They named their son Kenneth after

Kenneth W. Spence Kenneth Wartinbee Spence (May 6, 1907 – January 12, 1967) was a prominent American psychologist known for both his theoretical and experimental contributions to learning theory and motivation. As one of the leading theorists of his time, Spence ...

, the doctoral advisor they both shared when studying at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Kendler is married to Susan Miller, with whom he has three children.

References

External links

Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics

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* American psychiatrists Theorists in psychiatry Living people Virginia Commonwealth University faculty American medical academics University of California, Santa Cruz alumni 1950 births Psychiatric geneticists Scientists from New York City American geneticists Schizophrenia researchers Members of the National Academy of Medicine {{US-psychiatrist-stub