James Harris is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, where he is founding director of the Developmental Neuropsychiatry Clinic. He is also a professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He served on the American Psychiatric Association committee that wrote the new definition of autism spectrum disorder for the DSM-5.
James Harris
Professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
From this contributor
Correcting the record: Leo Kanner and the broad autism phenotype
The specter of the ‘refrigerator mother’ theory continues to haunt the history of autism. New information puts Kanner’s observations of parents into context.
Correcting the record: Leo Kanner and the broad autism phenotype
By
James Harris, Joseph Piven
26 April 2016 | 10 min read
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Alzheimer’s disease and autism; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 12 January.
Alzheimer’s disease and autism; and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 12 January.
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Jill Adams
13 January 2026 | 2 min read
Computational psychiatry needs systems neuroscience
Dissecting different parallel processing streams may help us understand the mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms, such as delusions, and unite human and animal research.
Computational psychiatry needs systems neuroscience
Dissecting different parallel processing streams may help us understand the mechanisms underlying psychiatric symptoms, such as delusions, and unite human and animal research.
By
Michael Halassa
13 January 2026 | 7 min read
This paper changed my life: John Tuthill reflects on the subjectivity of selfhood
Wittlinger, Wehner and Wolf’s 2006 “stilts and stumps” Science paper revealed how ants pull off extraordinary feats of navigation using a biological odometer, and it inspired Tuthill to consider how other insects sense their own bodies.
This paper changed my life: John Tuthill reflects on the subjectivity of selfhood
Wittlinger, Wehner and Wolf’s 2006 “stilts and stumps” Science paper revealed how ants pull off extraordinary feats of navigation using a biological odometer, and it inspired Tuthill to consider how other insects sense their own bodies.
By
John Tuthill
12 January 2026 | 7 min read