 
Dr. Donald J. Cohen
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Professor of Child Psychiatry
Dr. Donald J. Cohen, who recently achieved one of Yale's highest distinctions when he was named Sterling Professor of Child Psychiatry, specializes in neuropsychiatric disorders of children, including autism, Tourette's syndrome, and attention disorders.
A child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, he joined the Yale School of Medicine faculty in 1972 and has directed the Yale Child Study Center since 1983.
Cohen's clinical and research interests also focus on the interaction between biological and experimental factors in the emergence and treatment of psychiatric disorders, the early roots of personality development, the impact of psychosocial disadvantage on children, national policy for children and adolescents, and the impact of acute and persistent stress on children's development.
He is coauthor or coeditor of a dozen books, including "Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders," "The Many Meanings of Play in Child Psychoanalysis," "Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from Autism," and "Tourette's Syndrome and Associated Disorders." He has written more than 300 articles on neuropsychiatric childhood disorders.
A graduate of Brandeis University, Cohen was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cambridge, England, where he studied philosophy and psychology before entering the Yale School of Medicine. He earned his M.D. in 1966 and took his residency training at Harvard, the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston.
Before joining the Yale faculty, Cohen participated in studies on twins and siblings at the National Institute of Mental Health and was a special assistant to the director of the Office of Child Development for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C.
At Yale, he served as associate director of the Children's Clinical Research Center and codirector of the Yale Mental Health Clinical Research Center. He was appointed a full professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and psychology in 1979 and was named the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology in 1987.
Cohen is a training and supervisory analyst and associate child analytic supervisor at the Western New England Institute for Psychoanalysis, where he studied adult and child psychoanalysis. He also serves on numerous advisory, editorial and governing boards. He is vice president of the Child First Foundation, cochair of the board of trustees of the Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut, international president of Fondazione per lo Studio e la Ricerca sull'infanzia e l'adolenza (Foundation for Education and Research Concerning Children and Adolescents) in Milan, Italy, and chair of the International Scientific Council of Schneider Children's Hospital of Israel in Tel Aviv.
The child psychiatrist has received a number of honors for his contributions to the health of children and his research on children's mental health, including the Annual Public Service Award from the National Society for Autistic Children, the Ittleson Award from the American Psychiatric Association and an Elm-Ivy Award from the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
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