Daniel Xander Freedman (17 August 1921 – 3 June 1993) was a psychiatrist and educator, pioneer in biological psychiatry.

Biography

Born in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

, he performed pioneering studies in the relationship between drugs and behavior. Researching brain mechanism in allergy, he discovered the link of

hallucinogen Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...

s to brain transmitters. He also found biological effects of environmental stress on the brain, and identified hyperserotonemia in

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

. After attending

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in the class of 1943, he enlisted in

United States Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army responsible for creating and managing Military communications, communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was ...

in July 1942. He later attended

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. It is the sixth-oldest m ...

and ultimately became Professor of Psychiatry at Yale until 1966 when he left Yale to become Chairman of the Psychiatry department at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

where he continued his psychopharmaceutical research, primarily concerned with 5-hydroxytryptamine (

serotonin Serotonin (), also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a monoamine neurotransmitter with a wide range of functions in both the central nervous system (CNS) and also peripheral tissues. It is involved in mood, cognition, reward, learning, ...

). The final phase of his career was spent at

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

as professor of Psychiatry. His wife, Mary Freedman is a talented artist. As Dan Freedman, he was a talented and humorous musician. One of his specialties was accompanying himself on the piano while giving a fine impression of

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

singing "

Lydia the Tattooed Lady "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" is a 1939 song written by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen. It first appeared in the Marx Brothers film ''At the Circus'' (1939) and became one of Groucho Marx's signature tunes. It subsequently appeared in the movie '' The ...

Publications

* ''Handbook of Psychiatry'' (30 Volumes), Volume Twenty

References

1921 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American physicians American psychiatrists Harvard College alumni Presidents of the American Psychiatric Association Yale School of Medicine alumni United States Army soldiers Members of the National Academy of Medicine {{US-psychiatrist-stub