Leo Kanner

Physician

1896 – 1981

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Who was Leo Kanner?

Leo Kanner was an American psychiatrist and physician known for his work related to autism. Kanner's work formed the foundation of child and adolescent psychiatry in the U.S. and worldwide.

Kanner was born in Klekotow, a small village north of Brody in Austria-Hungary to an orthodox Jewish family. He studied at the University of Berlin from 1913, his studies broken by service with the Austrian Army in World War I, finally receiving his M.D. in 1921. He emigrated to the United States in 1924 to take a position as an Assistant Physician at the State Hospital in Yankton County, South Dakota. In 1930 he was selected by Adolf Meyer and Edward Park to develop the first child psychiatry service in a pediatric hospital at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He became Associate Professor of Psychiatry in 1933.

As the first self-identified "child psychiatrist", he was the founder of the first academic child psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, His first textbook, Child Psychiatry in 1935, was the first English language textbook to focus on the topic.

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Born
Feb 29, 1896
Austria
Also known as
  • Dr. Leo Kanner
Religion
  • Judaism
Nationality
  • United States of America
  • Austria
Profession
Education
  • Humboldt University of Berlin
Died
Apr 3, 1981
Sykesville

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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