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James Bennett Potash

James Bennett Potash, MD, MPH

Psychiatry

Highlights

Age Groups Seen

  • Young Adult 18-25
  • Adult 26-64
  • Older Adult 65+

Languages

  • English

In-Network Plans

View All Accepted Plans (12)

Gender

Male

Johns Hopkins Affiliations:

  • Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

About James Bennett Potash

Professional Titles

  • Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry
  • Director, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Johns Hopkins Physician

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Background

Dr. Potash has been the Henry Phipps Professor, Director of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief, at Johns Hopkins since 2017. Before that he was Chair and Department Executive Officer of the University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry for six years. Dr. Potash graduated from Yale College. Following graduation, he served in the Peace Corps in the West African country of Senegal. He completed his master’s degree in public health at Johns Hopkins, and then went on to medical school at Hopkins, medical internship at Hopkins Bayview, and a year working as a general practitioner in another West African country, Benin. He returned to do his psychiatry residency at Hopkins. He became the Mood Disorders Center research director before moving to Iowa. Dr. Potash’s work has focused on investigation of the genetic and epigenetic basis of depression and bipolar disorder. These efforts have resulted in over 250 publications. Dr. Potash served as an officer of the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics and on the Executive Committee of the National Network of Depression Centers, and is now President-Elect for the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry. He has been a member of the Council on Research and is currently on the Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing of the American Psychiatric Association. In this latter role, he led a 2025 paper on The Future of the Psychiatrist. Dr. Potash is an active clinician who sees patients with depression and bipolar disorder in the inpatient and outpatient setting, and also in a mood disorders consultation clinic.

Research Interests

bipolar disorder genetic sequencing, epigenetic mechanisms of stress on depression, genetic and epigenetic basis of mood disorders

Google Scholar - Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=x3icpPMAAAAJ&hl=en

PubMed - Publications

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=james+potash

Selected Publications

  • Potash JB, Zandi PP, Willour VL, Lan TH, Avramopoulos D, Huo Y, Shugart YY, MacKinnon DF, Simpson SG, McMahon FJ, DePaulo Jr JR, McInnis MG. Suggestive linkage to chromosomal regions 13q31 and 22q12 in families with psychotic bipolar disorder. Am J Psychiatry 2003; 160:680-686

  • Goes FS, Pirooznia M, Parla JS, Kramer M, Ghiban E, Mavruk S, Chen YC, Monson E, Willour VL, Karchin R, Flickinger M, Locke AE, Levy S, Scott LJ, Boehnke M, BRIDGES Study investigators, Stahl E, Moran JL, McCarroll SA, Hultman CM, Landén M, Purcell SM, Sklar P, Zandi PP, McCombie WR, Potash JB. Exome sequencing of familial bipolar disorder. JAMA Psychiatry 2016; 73:590-7.

  • Lee RS, Tamashiro KL, Yang X, Purcell RH, Harvey A, Willour VL, Huo Y, Rongione M, Wand GS and Potash JB. Chronic corticosterone exposure increases expression and decreases DNA methylation of Fkbp5 in mice. Endocrinology 2010; 151:4332-4343

  • Sabunciyan S, Aryee MJ, Irizarry RA, Rongione M, Webster MJ, Kaufmann WE, Murakami P, Lessard A, GenRED consortium, Yolken RH, Feinberg AP, Potash JB. Genome-wide DNA methylation scan in major depressive disorder. PLoS One 2012; 7:e34451.

  • Willour VL, Chen H, Toolan J, Belmonte P, Cutler DJ, Goes FS, Zandi PP, Lee RS, MacKinnon DF, Mondimore FM, Schweizer B, Bipolar Disorder Phenome Group, NIMH Genetics Initiative Bipolar Disorder Consortium, DePaulo Jr JR, Gershon ES, McMahon FJ, Potash JB. Family-based association of FKBP5 in bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry 2009; 14(3):261-268.  

Locations

  1. The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Expertise

Education

  • Residency: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Psychiatry, 1998
  • Medical Education: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, MD, 1993
  • Graduate School: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, MPH, 1989

Board Certifications

  • Psychiatry: American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, 1999

Insurance

Please contact the location directly to confirm your health plan is accepted.
Search plans
  • Aetna
  • CareFirst
  • Cigna
  • First Health
  • Geisinger Health Plan
  • HealthSmart/Accel
  • Johns Hopkins Health Plans
  • MultiPlan
  • Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
  • Point Comfort Underwriters
  • Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
  • Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)