James F. Gusella, Ph.D.
Distinguished Investigator

Dr. James F. Gusella was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada and graduated summa cum laude in 1974 from the University of Ottawa with a B.Sc. in Honours Biology. He continued his education at the University of Toronto, where he earned a M.Sc. degree in Medical Biophysics in 1976 and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his Ph.D. in Biology in 1980. He is currently Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Human Genetic Research, a multidisciplinary center designed to help extend the genetic paradigm to disorders in all areas of medicine. He is also Bullard Professor of Neurogenetics in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He has received numerous awards for his pioneering work applying molecular genetic analysis to disorders affecting the human nervous system, including among others the National Health Council Award for Medical Research, the J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievement in Health, the Metropolitan Life Foundation Award for Medical Research, The A. Cressy Morrison Award in the Natural Sciences of the New York Academy of Science, the Lois Pope LIFE International Research Award, the Neuronal Plasticity Award of the IPSEN Foundation, and the Robert S. Dow Award for Neuroscience. He is currently focused on using genetic analysis to identify genetic variations that confer susceptibility to autism spectrum disorders. In particular, his recent work has implicated the neurexn family of neuronal cell surface proteins as strong candidates for involvement in autism.

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