McPartland named Harris Professor for Child Psychiatry and Psychology
James McPartland, a leading expert in the electrophysiological study of brain function in autism, has been appointed the Harris Professor for Child Psychiatry and Psychology, effective July 1, 2022.
A licensed child psychologist and active clinician at Yale Child Study Center (YCSC), McPartland also serves as director of the Yale Developmental Disabilities Clinic and director of undergraduate studies at YCSC.
He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard.
McPartland is regarded as one of the premier experts in the electrophysiological study of brain function in autism. He published the first account of delays in neural responses to social information in autism; a biomarker derived from this finding was recently established as the first index accepted into the FDA’s Biomarker Qualification Program for autism or any other psychiatric condition. His program of research investigates the brain bases of neurodevelopmental conditions to develop biologically based tools to improve detection and treatment.
A leader of research in autism spectrum disorders at Yale and beyond, McPartland directs the most comprehensive autism neuroscience study in the country, the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials, a nationwide effort to develop biological indices for use in clinical trials in neurodevelopmental conditions. He has been awarded numerous grants and has received multiple awards acknowledging his work in developmental disabilities research and has been ranked among the top funded psychiatry researchers in the country for the last decade.
At Yale he has supported myriad autistic individuals and their families and launched many junior colleagues in productive clinical and basic research careers focused on developmental conditions and worked to improve the quality of life for autistic people and their families. He is also active in the community and with autism organizations, including chairing the Scientific Advisory Board for the Autism Science Foundation.
