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
Explore more from The Transmitter
Nuclear location helps control gene activity during brain development
A study of developing human brain tissue suggests that genes switch on more strongly when they move from the nucleus’s edge toward structures that contain proteins involved in making and processing RNA.
Nuclear location helps control gene activity during brain development
A study of developing human brain tissue suggests that genes switch on more strongly when they move from the nucleus’s edge toward structures that contain proteins involved in making and processing RNA.
By
Giorgia Guglielmi
20 August 2026 | 4 min read
Five-year-old human brain organoids aged on schedule
The cultured spheres typically mimic only prenatal development, but the five-year-old ones grown in Paola Arlotta’s lab acquired postnatal features.
Five-year-old human brain organoids aged on schedule
The cultured spheres typically mimic only prenatal development, but the five-year-old ones grown in Paola Arlotta’s lab acquired postnatal features.
By
Claudia López Lloreda
19 August 2026 | 5 min read
Marco Facchin explores the ever-shifting landscape of neuroscience theory and philosophy
Computational explanations of cognition, though powerful, aren't the only game in town.
Marco Facchin explores the ever-shifting landscape of neuroscience theory and philosophy
Computational explanations of cognition, though powerful, aren't the only game in town.
By
Paul Middlebrooks
19 August 2026 | 1 min read