Kenneth S. Kendler is an American psychiatrist

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 best known for this pioneering research in psychiatric genetics

Psychiatric genetics

Psychiatric genetics, a subfield of behavioral neurogenetics, studies the role of genetics in psychological conditions such as alcoholism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. The basic principle behind psychiatric genetics is that genetic polymorphisms, as indicated by linkage to e.g...

, 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. For the 1997-2007 decade he was ranked 4th by Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...

' Science Watch. In 2010 his h-index

H-index

The h-index is an index that attempts to measure both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. The index is based on the set of the scientist's most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications...

 is 91; Kendler authored over 700 papers. 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

Serotonin transporter

The serotonin transporter is a monoamine transporter protein.This protein is an integral membrane protein that transports the neurotransmitter serotonin from synaptic spaces into presynaptic neurons. This transport of serotonin by the SERT protein terminates the action of serotonin and recycles it...

 polymorphism

Polymorphism (biology)

Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...

 in the prediction of episodes of major depression.

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

Virginia Commonwealth University is a public university located in Richmond, Virginia. It comprises two campuses in the Downtown Richmond area, the product of a merger between the Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia in 1968...

. Kendler is also one of the two Editors of Psychological Medicine

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 2010 impact factor of 5.200, ranking 6th out of 73 journals in the category "Psychology", 11th out...

. He served on the Work Group that revised the DSM-III, on the Task Force for DSM-IV, and is serving in the DSM-5

DSM-5

The next edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , commonly called DSM-5 , is currently in consultation, planning and preparation...

 Work Group on Mood Disorders

Mood disorder

Mood disorder is the term designating a group of diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders classification system where a disturbance in the person's mood is hypothesized to be the main underlying feature...

.

Kendler is also interested in philosophical issues in psychiatry.

External links

• Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics