Pat R. Levitt, PhD

Dr. Levitt received his BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Chicago, PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Neuroscience at Yale University. Dr. Levitt has held leadership positions at University of Pittsburgh, Vanderbilt University and University of Southern California. Dr. Levitt was elected as a member into the prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM), part of the National Academy of Sciences. Named a McKnight Foundation Scholar in 2002, Dr. Levitt also was a MERIT awardee from the National Institute of Mental Health and served as a member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council for the National Institute of Mental Health. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Chair-elect of the Neuroscience Division of the AAAS, and an elected member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University, and serves as Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, a policy council that brings the best research from child development and neuroscience to assist policy makers and business leaders in making wise program investment decisions. He is a member of a number of scientific advisory boards for foundations and university programs, served as Senior Editor for Journal of Neuroscience, and currently serves on the editorial boards of eLife, Neuron, Cerebral Cortex, Autism Research, Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Disease Models and Mechanisms. Dr. Levitt’s research focuses on the development of brain architecture that controls learning, emotional and social behavior. His research focuses on genetic and environment factors that increase risk for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia. His clinical research studies address autism heterogeneity by studying children with autism who also have co-occurring medical conditions, such as gastrointestinal disorders, with the goal of developing better diagnostic criteria and personalized treatments. He has published over 250 papers.

• Identification of Child Risk and Resilience to Early Life Stress
  NIH · R01HD118103 · Sep 1, 2026 – May 31, 2031 · Role: Principal Investigator
• 2/24 Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
  NIH · U01DA055362 · Sep 30, 2021 – Jun 30, 2027 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Impact of Early Life Experience on Vagal Neurons and Circuits
  NIH · R01DK126085 · Apr 12, 2021 – Mar 31, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Biological and Environmental Contributions to Healthy Baby Development in Diverse Population
  NIH · R34DA050254 · Sep 30, 2019 – Mar 31, 2021 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Modeling genetic contributions to phenotype variation and neurodevelopmental disorder susceptibility
  NIH · R21MH118685 · Jun 5, 2019 – Mar 31, 2021 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Predoctoral Training in Interdisciplinary Neurosciences
  NIH · T32MH111360 · Jul 1, 2016 – Jun 30, 2021 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Mechanisms of Autonomic Brainstem Development
  NIH · R21NS086413 · May 1, 2014 – Oct 31, 2016 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Leptin and the Nutritional Programming of Obesity and Diabetes
  NIH · R01DK084142 · Aug 10, 2010 – Mar 31, 2024 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Autism Research Program
  NIH · P30MH089877 · Sep 30, 2009 – Aug 31, 2012 · Role: Principal Investigator
• The MET Signaling System,Autism and Gastrointestinal Dysfunction
  NIH · R21HD065289 · Sep 30, 2009 – Aug 31, 2012 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Transcriptional Atlas of Human Brain Development
  NIH · RC2MH090047 · Sep 30, 2009 – Aug 31, 2012 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms of Social Behavior
  NIH · R01MH080759 · Sep 1, 2007 – Aug 31, 2013 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Development of Reciprocal Neural Circuitry
  NIH · R01DA022785 · Sep 1, 2007 – Jun 30, 2013 · Role: Principal Investigator
• 16th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for Developmental Neurobiology
  NIH · R13NS056849 · Jul 1, 2006 – Jun 30, 2007 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Biobehavioral Intervention in Developmental Disabilities
  NIH · T32MH075883 · Sep 29, 2005 – Aug 31, 2010 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• Function and Structure Adaptations in Forebrain Development
  NIH · R01MH067842 · Jul 1, 2002 – Mar 31, 2025 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Function and Structure Adaptations in Forebrain Development
  NIH · R56MH067842 · Jul 1, 2002 – Aug 31, 2015 · Role: Principal Investigator
• FETAL COCAINE AND GENE EXPRESSION DEFECTS IN FOREBRAIN
  NIH · R01DA013792 · Sep 30, 2000 – Jul 31, 2004 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Brain Structure &Function after Fetal Cocaine Exposure
  NIH · R01DA011165 · Sep 30, 1996 – May 31, 2006 · Role: Principal Investigator
• MINORITY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT RESEARCH APPRENTICE PROGRAM
  NIH · S03RR003573 · Mar 12, 1993 – Feb 29, 1996 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• NON-NEURONAL CELLS AND CNS FORMATION AND INJURY
  NIH · R01DA009555 · Aug 15, 1991 – Jun 30, 1999 · Role: Principal Investigator
• ROLE OF NON-NEURONAL CELLS IN CNS FORMATION &INJURY
  NIH · R01AG010560 · Aug 15, 1991 – Jul 31, 1994 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Factors Regulating Limbic System Assembly
  NIH · R01MH045507 · Sep 1, 1989 – Apr 30, 2009 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator
• FACTORS REGULATING LIMBIC SYSTEM ASSEMBLY
  NIH · R37MH045507 · Sep 1, 1989 – Aug 31, 1999 · Role: Principal Investigator
• RECOGNITION EVENTS BETWEEN VISUAL AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS
  NIH · R03EY006047 · Aug 1, 1985 – Jul 31, 1986 · Role: Principal Investigator
• GENETIC CONTROL OF MONOAMINERGIC AXON GROWTH
  NIH · R01NS020196 · Dec 1, 1983 – Sep 30, 1990 · Role: Principal Investigator
• Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center
  NIH · P30HD015052 · Jun 1, 1980 – Jun 30, 2015 · Role: Co-Principal Investigator

• Children's Hospital Los Angeles Receives $1 Million Grant from Autism Speaks
• Children's Hospital Los Angeles Names Inaugural Director of Developmental Neurogenetics Program Within the Institute for the Developing Mind

• Thompson, Paul
• Toga, Arthur
• Peterson, Bradley
• Eagleson, Kathie
• Baranek, Grace
• Finch, Caleb