David Reiss, MD

Dr. Reiss graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School , both summa cum laude. He completed a residency in psychiatry at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and psychoanalytic training at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. He was clinical associate, section chief and acting Branch Chief in the Intramural Research Program of NIMH and then the Vivian Gill Distinguished Research Professor at the George Washigton University School of Medicine becoming emeritus in 2007 when he retired after 35 years of service. He was appointed Clinical Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale in 2008. His research, and that of his colleagues, on the interplay of family and genetic processes on human development has been continuously funded by NIH for almost five decades. He is the recipient of numerous awards including an NIH MERIT award and the Adolf Meyer Award from the American Psychiatric Association and was editor-in-chief of Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes for 14 years. He was also the principal in a landmark lawsuit, Reiss et al vs Finch (a cabinet member in the Nixon administration) securing the right of Federal employees to engage in political protest. Dr. Reiss is currently involved in research on gene-environment interplay in normal fetal, infant and child development as well on early developmental pathways to substance abuse. He serves as a consultant to NIH/NIA where he has initiated support for programmatic research on the reversibility of long-lasting effects on adult health of childhood adversity. He is also a research consultant to the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA and has initiated a number of joint Yale-Riggs programs to enahnce teaching and research at both institutions.