Volkmar was raised in Sorento, Illinois.[3] He obtained a B.S. in psychology from the University of Illinois in 1972, where he worked with William Greenough on brain development.[2][3] As an undergraduate, Volkmar published or collected data for seven papers; his first publication (Rearing complexity affects branching of dendrites in the visual cortex of the rat) appeared in Science[1][4] and earned him the Psi Chi national prize for research.[3] During his time at the University of Illinois, Volkmar first came into contact with autism, and at the suggestion of a professor decided to pursue child psychology.[3]
Volkmar was a resident and fellow in psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine,[2] joining Yale as a fellow for child and adolescent psychiatry in 1980.[1][5] He became an assistant professor at Yale in 1982,[5] founding the Developmental Disability Clinic in the same year.[1] He was board certified in psychiatry and in child and adolescent psychiatry in 1988.[2] In the same year, he was promoted to associate professor, becoming a full professor in 1998.[6] He held the Irving B. Harris chair in 1987 and 1988, being appointed permanently in 2003.[6]
Volkmar was the lead author of the section on autism in the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) published in 1994,[3][5] which saw the introduction of Asperger syndrome as a diagnosis.[7] He was part of the work group on neurodevelopmental disorders for the DSM-5 (2013) but resigned and, as of 2023, still believes the DSM-5 criteria are too strict, according to The Guardian.[7]
Between 2007 and 2022, he was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.[2][8] As of 2023, Volkmar is the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders[9] since publication of its first edition in 2013.[10] He was an editor for the Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders,[5] overseeing the publication of its second,[11] third,[12] and fourth edition.[13]
^ abcdefPeterson D (October 1, 2009). "Fred Volkmar: Autistic expressions". LAS News. University of Illinois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
^Cohen DJ, Volkmar FR, eds. (1997). Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
^Volkmar FR, Paul R, Klin A, Cohen DJ, eds. (2005). Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
^Volkmar FR, Rogers SJ, Paul R, Pelphrey KA, eds. (2014). Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (4th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-1181-0702-7.