Daniel Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D.

Daniel Geschwind, holds the Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics and is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine. He is director of the neurogenetics program and the Center for Autism Research and Treatment and codirector of the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics.

Geschwind obtained an A.B. degree in psychology and chemistry at Dartmouth College. After two years at the Boston Consulting Group, he obtained M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Yale University School of Medicine in 1991. He completed his neurology residency at UCLA, where he has remained, joining the faculty in 1997.

The Geschwind laboratory focuses on integrating basic neurobiology, genetics and genomics with translational studies of human diseases. The laboratory has worked to integrate genetic findings in autism with data from postmortem brains to elucidate mechanisms of ASD. It also uses stem-cell and animal models. Geschwind has put considerable effort into fostering large-scale collaborative patient resources for genetic research and data sharing. He played a major role in the founding, and has provided continuing scientific oversight, of the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, the largest collection of multiplex autism families in the world. He has served on numerous scientific advisory boards, including the NIMH Advisory Council, the NIH Council of Councils and the Executive Council of the American Neurological Association, and he cochairs the neurogenetics section of the Faculty of 1000 Medicine. He received the Derek Denny-Brown Neurological Scholar Award from the American Neurological Association in 2004, the Scientific Service Award from Autism Speaks in 2007 and the Ruane Prize from the Brain and Behavior Foundation in 2013. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.