Kenneth S. Kendler (born July 12, 1950) is an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

best known for his pioneering research in

psychiatric genetics Psychiatric genetics is a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics and Behavioural genetics, behavioral genetics which studies the role of genetics in the development of mental disorders (such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism) ...

, particularly the genetic causes of schizophrenia. Kendler is one of the highest cited psychiatry researchers. Between 1990 and 1998 he was the 2nd highest cited psychiatrist, and for the 1997–2007 decade he was ranked 4th by

Thomson Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...

' ''Science Watch''. He has authored over 1,200 papers and in 2016 his

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

was 126. Kendler's group was also noted for the replication of a study of Avshalom Caspi on the interaction of stressful life events and a

serotonin transporter The serotonin transporter (SERT or 5-HTT) also known as the sodium-dependent serotonin transporter and solute carrier family 6 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SLC6A4 gene. SERT is a type of monoamine transporter protein t ...

polymorphism in the prediction of episodes of

major depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Intro ...

. Kendler is a Banks Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Human Genetics, and Director of the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at the

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

. Kendler is also one of the two Editors of ''

Psychological Medicine ''Psychological Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal in the field of psychiatry and related aspects of psychology and basic sciences. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 2020 impact factor of 7.723. History ...

''. He served on the Work Group that revised the

DSM-III The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a c ...

, on the Task Force for

DSM-IV The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a com ...

, and on the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiat ...

Work Group for

Mood Disorders A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder where the main underlying characteristic is a disturbance in the person's mood. The classification is in the ''Diagnostic ...

. Kendler is also interested in philosophical issues in psychiatry. Kendler co-wrote with Edith Zerbin-Rüdin, daughter of Nazi German psychiatrist Ernst Rüdin, a history of Ernst Rüdin's work during World War II. During World War II, Rüdin was a member of the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field or area of study. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized a ...

who vociferously advocated the extermination of individuals with schizophrenia. However, Kendler's articles on Rüdin have faced criticism for whitewashing his racist and later Nazi ideologies and activities. Kendler is the second son of Howard H. Kendler and Tracy Kendler, both of whom were influential academic psychologists. They named their son Kenneth after Kenneth W. Spence, the doctoral advisor they both shared when studying at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

. Kendler is married to Susan Miller, with whom he has three children.

References

External links

Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kendler, Kenneth American psychiatrists Theorists in psychiatry Living people Virginia Commonwealth University faculty American medical academics University of California, Santa Cruz alumni 1950 births Psychiatric geneticists Scientists from New York City American geneticists Schizophrenia researchers Members of the National Academy of Medicine 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists