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James Leckman, MD, PhD

Neison Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

About

Titles

Neison Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Biography

James F. Leckman, M.D. is the Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Psychology and Pediatrics at Yale. Dr. Leckman is a well-known child psychiatrist and patient-oriented clinical investigator. For more than 20, years he served as the Director of Research for the Yale Child Study Center.

His peers have regularly selected him as one of the Best Doctors in America. Dr. Leckman is the author or co-author of over 430 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals, twelve books, and 140 book chapters. Dr. Leckman has a longstanding interest in Tourette syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). His research on these disorders is multifaceted from phenomenology and natural history, to neurobiology to genetics, to risk factor research and treatment studies. One area of active research interest concerns the role of the immune system in the pathobiology of Tourette syndrome and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

Appointments

Education & Training

PhD
University of São Paulo, Clinical Science (2014)
Fellow
Yale University School of Medicine (1981)
Resident
Connecticut Mental Health Center (1979)
Postdoctoral training
National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Program, Psychiatric Genetics (1976)
MD
University of New Mexico (1973)
BA
College of Wooster (1969)

Board Certifications

  • Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

    Certification Organization
    AB of Psychiatry & Neurology
    Original Certification Date
    1982
  • Psychiatry

    Certification Organization
    AB of Psychiatry & Neurology
    Original Certification Date
    1980

Research

Overview

James F. Leckman, M.D. is the Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Psychology and Pediatrics at Yale. He serves as the Director of Research for the Yale Child Study Center. Dr. Leckman is a well known child psychiatrist and patient-oriented clinical investigator. His peers have regularly selected him as one of the Best Doctors in America. Dr. Leckman is the author or co-author of over 450 original articles published in peer-reviewed journals, seven books, and 145 book chapters. In 2002, he was identified by American Society for Information, Science and Technology as a “Highly Cited Researcher” - one of the world's most cited authors in Psychology and Psychiatry – in the top half of the top one percent of all publishing researchers.

In 1999, he edited with Dr. Donald J. Cohen, Tourette's Syndrome: Tics, Obsessions, Compulsions - Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Care, published by John Wiley & Sons. Given its success, this volume was re-issued in paper back in the fall of 2001. More recently, Dr. Leckman edited (along with Davide Martino) a 30-chapter volume, entitled, Tourette Syndrome published in 2014 by Oxford University Press.

Clinical expertise

Dr. Leckman is widely recognized as a committed clinician with special skills in the evaluation and treatment of Tourette’s syndrome (TS) and early onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Since the early 1980s, he has seen and evaluated hundreds of individuals with these conditions. Physicians, patients and families from across the country and around the world regularly seek his advice. He is frequently invited to address professional, parent and advocacy groups at local, regional, and national meetings as well as international meetings. For example during the past four years, he has presented to professional and/or family groups in London, Rotterdam, Berlin, Rome, Johannesburg, Istanbul, Beirut, Sharm El Sheikh, Tehran, Tel Aviv, Taipei, Tokyo, Mexico City, Lima, and Sao Paulo. He is also a fully trained psychoanalyst.

Interdisciplinary research program on TS & OCD

One of Dr. Leckman’s main research interests has been the interaction of genes and environment in the pathogenesis of TS and OCD. His research on these disorders is well known and multifaceted from phenomenology and natural history, to neurobiology (neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology) to genetics, to risk factor research (perinatal factors are important), to treatment studies.

Formative Childhood and Peace Building

Most recently, in partnership with colleagues at UNICEF and the Mother-Child Education Foundation based in Turkey, Dr. Leckman has begun to explore the question whether strengthening families and enhancing child development is a path to peace and violence prevention. Related efforts include the Early Childhood Peace Consortium that was launched (September 2013) in New York in at the United Nations and the 15th Ernst Strüngmann Forum that took place in Frankfurt, Germany in October 2013. The deliberations of 40 international experts from a broad range of scientific disciplines are summarized in volume entitled, Formative Childhoods: The Transformative Power of Children and Families, published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press in 2014. More information is available at: https://ecdpeace.org/work-content/revolutionary-volume-pathways-peace-transformative-power-children-families.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Adolescent Psychiatry; Child Psychiatry; Global Health; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Psychiatry; Tic Disorders; Tourette Syndrome

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of James Leckman's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • honor

    Julius Axelrod Mentorship Award

  • honor

    Transformative Research Award

Get In Touch

Contacts

Mobile Phone Number
Appointment Number
Office Fax Number
Clinic Fax Number
Mailing Address

Child Study Center

PO Box 207900, 230 South Frontage Road

New Haven, CT 06520-7900

United States

Administrative Support

Locations

  • Neison Irving Harris Building

    Academic Office

    230 South Frontage Road

    New Haven, CT 06519