Fred R Volkmar MD
Irving B. Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics, of Psychiatry and of Psychology; Chief, Child Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital; Chair, Child Study Center

Departments & Organizations
Yale Medical GroupAlbert J. Solnit Integrated Training Program
Child Study Center: Developmental Disabilities Program | Yale Autism Program | NIMH Research Training Program in Childhood-onset Neuropsychiatric Disorders | Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training Program
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Biography
Fred R. Volkmar, M.D. is Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology and Director of the Yale University Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine. He is also the Chief of Child Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT. A graduate of the University of Illinois where he received in undergraduate degree in psychology in 1972 and of Stanford University where he received his M.D. and a master’s degree in psychology in 1976 Dr. Volkmar was the primary author of the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV autism and pervasive developmental disorders section. He is the author of several hundred scientific papers and chapters as well as a number of books including Asperger’s Syndrome (Guilford Press), Health Care for Children on the Autism Spectrum (Woodbine Publishing), the Handbook of Autism (Wiley Publishing), and A Practical Guide to Autism: What Every Parent, Teacher and Family Members Needs to Know (Wiley Publishing) with another three books in varying stages of production. He has served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and the American Journal of Psychiatry. He currently serves as Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. He has served as co-chairperson of the autism/intellectual disabilities committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In addition to having directed the internationally known autism clinic he also served as director of autism research at Yale before becoming chairperson of the Department. Dr. Volkmar has been the principal investigator of three program project grants including a CPEA (Collaborative Program of Excellent in Autism) grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and a STAART (Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment) Autism Center Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.Education
- M.A., Stanford University , 1976
- M.D., Stanford University , 1976
Selected Publication
- Chawarska, K., Volkmar, F., & Klin, A. (2010). Limited Attentional Bias for Faces in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 67:2, 178-185. [PMID: 20124117]
Latest Honor and Recognition
- Blanche F. Ittleson Award(1997) , American Psychiatric Association
Articles

March/April 2011
A big birthday for Child Study Center
As the School of Medicine’s bicentennial year draws to a close, Yale’s venerable Child Study Center (CSC) has begun...

Sept/Oct 2009
Making sense of autism
These days, autism is a hot topic, but the disorder’s high profile is a relatively recent development, says Fred R....

Nov/Dec 2011
Gift links tribal colleges with Child Study Center
When Charles W. Carl Jr., M.D., talks about his 2005 trip to the Navajo Nation—a 27,000 square-mile Native American...

July/August 2006
Expert on autism is named new director of Child Study Center
Fred R. Volkmar, M.D., a longtime Yale faculty member and world authority in the diagnosis and treatment of autism, has...

Jan/Feb 2010
Fighting the fallout of childhood cancer
Riva Ariella Ritvo, Ph.D., has a favorite quote from Gandhi: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the...

Sept/Oct 2012
Yale alum builds a crucial bridge for psychiatry researchers
Over the course of an eventful life, Herb Allison, M.B.A., a 1965 alumnus of Yale College, has found himself in many...


