Joseph Biederman (29 September 1947 - 5 January 2023) was Chief of the Clinical and Research Programs in Pediatric Psychopharmacology and Adult ADHD at the Massachusetts General Hospital, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Biederman was Board Certified in General and Child Psychiatry.
From 2019 to 2022, his citation metrics placed him in the top 0.01% of scientists across all fields. His research has been cited by colleagues 51,936 times leading to a lifetime h-index of 121, which is one of the highest in the field of mental health. These metrics indicate that his publications have had a substantial impact on the field. Although his biggest focus was on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in youth and adults, he also contributed many studies of obsessive-compulsive disorders, bipolar disorder, tic disorders, depression, and substance use disorders in youth. Due to this work, he is regarded as the father of pediatric psychopharmacology
Awards and honors
In 1995 Biederman was inducted into the CHADD Hall of Fame He was awarded the 2021 World Federation of ADHD Gold Medal Award for lifetime contributions to the field of ADHD. In 2023 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders. During his lifetime, he was awarded over 15 million dollars in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health to support his research into the nature, causes and treatment of mental health disorders in youth.
Noteworthy Work
Described as "one of the world's most influential child psychiatrists", Biederman has published hundred of papers on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ranks as one of the most-cited researchers on the subject. He was one of the first to systematically study the co-occurrence of ADHD with mood, anxiety and substance use disorders. His work showed that these disorders were common among ADHD patients. Dr. Biederman also completed the first large scale case-control family studies of ADHD.
Dr. Biederman has also led studies concluding that a substantial minority of children diagnosed with ADHD actually had pediatric bipolar disorder. This theory was proposed at a time when it was unheard for young children to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is characterized by severe mood swings. According to the New York Times, between 1994 and 2003, there was a controversial 40-fold increase in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder.
Although Dr. Biederman was one of the first to systematically study childhood onset bipolar disorder, the existence of bipolar disorder in childhood had been shown by many prior reports. In 1986, Weller et al. searched the literature of case reports describing children with severe psychiatric symptoms. Of 157 such cases, 24% had childhood onset bipolar disorder. This review suggested that juvenile mania may be common among referred children with severe psychopathology but that it may be difficult to diagnose.
This early work led to systematic studies by Dr. Biederman and others which showed that childhood onset bipolar disorder was more common than originally believed, especially among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or conduct disorder. Childhood onset bipolar disorder is now recognized by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry as a valid disorder as indicated by the publication of a practice parameter for diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder in children.