Leon Eisenberg, MD

Educational history

  • 1946: MD University of Pennsylvania
  • 1952: Residency Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital (psychiatry)
  • 1954: Fellowship Johns Hopkins Hospital (child psychiatry)

Leon Eisenberg is Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus. In July of 1993, Dr. Leon Eisenberg reached Emeritus status at Harvard Medical School but continues to work full time. In 1946, he received his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and took his internship at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. He served for two years as Captain in the Army Medical Corps and then completed a residency in psychiatry at the Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital (1952) in Baltimore and a Fellowship in Child Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Hospital under Professor Leo Kanner (1954). He became Chief of Child Psychiatry at Hopkins in 1961 and moved to Harvard in 1967 as Chief of Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1980, he became Chair of the Department of Social Medicine and Health Policy.

Dr. Eisenberg has served as consultant to the Division of Mental Health at the World Health Organization in Geneva in multiple capacities since 1964. He chaired the Scientific Group on Stress, Lifestyle and the Prevention of Disease in Sofia, Bulgaria (1981), the Working Group on Human Ecology and Health in Metepec, Mexico (1982), and the Scientific Group on the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders, Geneva (1989). He participated in the Consultation Group for the Formulation of an Action Plan for Child Mental Health in Montevideo, Uruguay (1991), the Joint Meeting with the International School of Neurological Sciences in Venice, Italy (1993) and the Task Force on Global Action for the Improvement of Mental Health Care, Geneva (1994). Dr. Eisenberg carried out the first randomized controlled trials in psychopharmacology in children and has done research on infantile autism, specific reading disability, and the social roots of developmental psychopathology. He was one of nine faculty members who initiated affirmative action at HMS in 1968, an initiative he regards as his most important contribution to the school. His current primary interests lie in the education of medical students, house officers, and physicians in the biosocial basis of health and disease in human populations.

Dr. Eisenberg has published widely: more than 250 articles in refereed journals, 130 chapters in books, and nine edited books. The most recent books he edited or co-edited are: World Mental Health: Problems and Priorities in Low-Income Countries (Oxford University Press, 1995); The Best Intentions: Unintended Pregnancy and the Well-Being of Children and Families (National Academy Press, 1995); The Implications of Genetics for Health Professional Education (Macy Foundation, 1999); Bridging Disciplines in the Brain, Behavioral, and Clinical Sciences (National Academy Press, 2000). He is the recipient of honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of Manchester in the UK (1973) and the University of Massachusetts in the U.S. (1991). He has received the Theobald Smith Award of Albany Medical College (1979), the Aldrich (1980) and Dale Richmond (1989) Awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Samuel T. Orton Award (1980) of Orton Society, the Special Presidential Commendation (1992) and the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention (1994) of the American Psychiatric Association, the distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of Pennsylvania (1992), the Camille Cosby Award of the Judge Baker Children's Center (1994), the Thomas W. Salmon Medal of the New York Academy of Medicine (1995), the Blanche F. Ittleson Memorial Award of the American Orthopsychiatric Association (1996), and the Mumford Award of the School of Public Health at Columbia University (1996). He has received the 1996 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat prize for outstanding contributions to mental health from the Institute of Medicine. In 2003, he received an Award for Distinguished Contribution to Public Policy from the Society for Research in Child Development, a Distinguished Service Award from the American Psychiatric Association, and the Walshe McDermott Medal of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academies. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Greek Society of Neurology and Psychiatry, of the Ecuadorian Academy of Neuroscience, and of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK).

Research Interests

  • Biosocial basis of health and disease in human populations
  • Social roots of developmental psychopathology

Current Projects

  • Education of medical students and clinicians in the biosocial basis of health and disease

Select Publications