JamesBennettPotashMDMPH

Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Department Director and Psychiatrist-in-Chief, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Join to view full profile

Dr. Potash is on Doximity

As a Doximity member you'll join over two million verified healthcare professionals in a private, secure network.

Gain access to free telehealth tools, such as our “call shielding” and one-way patient texting.
Connect with colleagues in the same hospital or clinic.
Read the latest clinical news, personalized to your specialty.

See Dr. Potash's full profile

Already have an account?

Office
600 N Wolfe St
Baltimore, MD 21287
Phone+1 410-955-3130

Fax+1 410-933-1390

Summary

Dr. Potash returned to Johns Hopkins as Director of Psychiatry and Psychiatrist-in-Chief in 2017. Prior to that he was Chair and Department Executive Officer of the University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry from 2011-17. Dr. Potash graduated in 1984 from Yale College, where he majored in English. Following graduation, he served in the Peace Corps in the West African country of Senegal, and there decided to become a physician. He completed his master’s degree in public health at Johns Hopkins, focusing on epidemiology and international health. He 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 psychiatric residency at Hopkins and served as chief resident in 1997-98. He then joined the mood disorders program, and eventually became the program’s research director before moving to Iowa.

Dr. Potash’s work has focused on investigation of the genetic and epigenetic basis of mood disorders—depression and bipolar disorder. These efforts have resulted in over 170 publications and consistent NIH funding. He has been particularly interested in the genetic basis of the psychotic forms of bipolar disorder, and in the epigenetic mechanisms through which stress plays a role in depression.

Dr. Potash co-leads the Bipolar Sequencing Consortium, and is a member of the Council on Research for the American Psychiatric Association. He serves as Treasurer for the International Society for Psychiatric Genetics, and he has played a leading role in the National Network of Depression Centers.

In addition to his research endeavors, Dr. Potash is also an active clinician who sees mood disorders patients in the inpatient and outpatient settings.

Education & Training

Johns Hopkins UniversityResidency, Psychiatry, 1995 - 1998
Johns Hopkins University/Bayview Medical CenterInternship, Internal Medicine, 1993 - 1994
Johns Hopkins University School of MedicineClass of 1993
Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public HealthM.P.H., Epidemiology and International Health, 1988 - 1989
Goucher College--, Post-baccalaureate (Pre-med), 1987 - 1988
Yale CollegeB.A., English, Cum Laude, 1980 - 1984

Certifications & Licensure

FL State Medical License 2023 - Present
MD State Medical License 1994 - 2025
IA State Medical License 2011 - 2018
American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Psychiatry

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

Independent Investigator Award NARSAD, 2008
Robins-Guze Award American Psychopathological Association, 2003
Mead Johnson Fellow in Public Psychiatry American Psychiatric Association, 1996
Pfizer Psychiatry Residents of the Year Award 1996
Rock SlysterAward American Medical Association, 1992
Member of Alpha Chapter of Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society 1989
Join now to see all

Publications & Presentations

PubMed

The genetics of severe depression.
Clio E Franklin, Eric Achtyes, Murat Altinay, Kala Bailey, Mahendra T Bhati
Molecular Psychiatry. 2024-10-15
Training Psychiatrist-Scientists-Excellence on Both Sides of the Hyphen.
Jacob L Taylor, James B Potash
JAMA Psychiatry. 2024-10-01
Exploring the genetics of lithium response in bipolar disorders.
Marisol Herrera-Rivero, Mazda Adli, Kazufumi Akiyama, Nirmala Akula, Azmeraw T Amare
International Journal of Bipolar Disorders. 2024-06-12

Journal Articles

Detecting Significant Genotype–Phenotype Association Rules in Bipolar Disorder: Market Research Meets Complex Genetics
John Kelsoe, Melvin McInnis, James Potash, William Lawson, John Rice, Evaristus Nwulia, William Byerley, Francis J McMahon, John Nurnberger, Wade Berrettini, Cinnamon ..., Springer Open
Characterizing the genetic basis of transcriptome diversity through RNA-sequencing of 922 individuals
Battle A, Mostafavi S, Zhu X, Potash JB, Weissman MM, McCormick C, Haudenschild CD, Beckman KB, Shi J, Mei R, Urban AE, Montgomery SB, Levinson DF, and Koller D, Genome Res, 1/1/2014
Integrating GWAS and human protein interaction networks identifies a gene sub-network underlying alcohol dependence
Han S, Yang B-Z, Kranzler HR, Liu X, Zhao H, Farrer LA, Boerwinkle E, Potash JB, Gelernter J, Am J Hum Genet, 12/5/2013
Type I interferon signaling genes in recurrent major depression: increased expression detected by whole-blood RNA sequencing
Mostafavi S, Battle A, Zhu X, Potash JB, Weissman MM, Shi J, Beckman K, Haudenschild C, McCormick C, Mei R, Gameroff MJ, Gindes H, Adams P, Goes FS, Mondimore FM, MacK..., Mol Psychiatry, 12/3/2013
Post-traumatic stress disorder increases risk for suicide attempt in adults with recurrent major depression
Stevens D, Wilcox, HC, MacKinnon DF, Mondimore FM, Schweizer B, Jancic D, Coryell WH, Scheftner WA, Weissman MM, Levinson DF, and Potash JB, Depress Anxiety, 10/1/2013
Metamoodics: meta-analysis and bioinformatics resource for mood disorders
Pirooznia M, Seifuddin F, Judy J, Goes FS, Potash JB, and Zandi PP, Mol Psychiatry, 9/10/2013
Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Lee SH, Ripke S, Neale BM, Potash JB, Sullivan PF, Smoller JW, Kendler KS, Wray NR, Nat Genet, 9/1/2013
Converging evidence for epistasis between ANK3 and potassium channel gene KCNQ2 in bipolar disorder
Judy JT, Seifuddin F, Pirooznia M, Mahon PB, Goes FS, Jancic D, Schultze T, Cichon S, Nöthen MM, Rietschel M, BiGS Consortium, Kelsoe J, DePaulo JR, Potash JB, Zandi PP, Frontiers in Behavioral and Psychiatric Genetics, 5/17/2013
Assessment of response to lithium maintenance treatment in bipolar disorder: a Consortium on Lithium Genetics (ConLiGen) report
Manchia M, Adli M, Potash JB, McMahon FJ, Schulze TG, Alda M, PLoS One, 5/17/2013
Genetic association of FKBP5 and CRHR1 with cortisol response to acute psychosocial stress in healthy adults
Mahon P, Zandi, P, Potash, JB, Nestadt, G, Wand, G, Psychopharmacology, 5/1/2013
Seasonal variation of manic and depressive symptoms in individuals with bipolar disorder
Akhter A, Fiedorowicz JG, Zhang T, Potash JB, Joseph Cavanaugh J, Solomon DA, Coryell WH, Bipolar Disord, 4/27/2013
A mega-analysis of genome-wide association studies for major depressive disorder
Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium (Potash JB), Mol Psychiatry, 4/1/2013
Enrichment of cis-regulatory gene expression SNPs and methylation quantitative trait loci among bipolar disorder susceptibility variants
Greenwood T, Nievergelt C, McKinney R, Shilling P, Schork N, Smith E, Bloss C, Nurnberger J, Edenberg H, Foroud T, Koller D, Scheftner W, Lawson W, Nwulia E, Hipolito ..., Mol Psychiatry, 3/1/2013
Genome-wide significant association between a 'negative mood delusions' dimension in bipolar disorder and genetic variation on chromosome 3q261
Meier S, Mattheisen M, Vassos E, Strohmaier J, Treutlein J, Josef F, Breuer R, Degenhardt F, Mühleisen TW, Müller-Myhsok B, Steffens M, Schmael C, McMahon FJ, Bipolar ..., Transl Psychiatry, 9/25/2012
Association study of X chromosome SNPs in attempted suicide
Jancic D, Seifuddin F, The Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS), Zandi PP, Potash JB, and Willour VL, Psychiatry Research, 1/1/2012
A hybrid likelihood model for sequence-based disease association studies
Chen YC, Carter H, Parla J, Kramer M, Goes FS, Pirooznia M, Zandi PP, McCombie WR, Potash JB, Karchin R, PLoS Genetics, 1/1/2012
The GA and the GWAS: using genetic algorithms to search for multi-locus associations
Mooney M, Wilmot B, McWeeney S, Kelsoe J, Greenwood T, Nievergelt C, McKinney R, Shilling P, Schork N, Smith E, Bloss C, Nurnberger J, Edenberg H, Foroud T, Koller D, ..., IEEE/ACM Trans Comput Biol Bioinform, 1/1/2012
Evidence for association of bipolar disorder to haplotypes in the 22q123 region near the genes stargazin, IFT27 and parvalbumin
Nissen S, Liang S, Shehktman T, Kelsoe JR; Bipolar Genome Study (BiGS), Greenwood TA, Nievergelt CM, McKinney R, Shilling PD, Smith EN, Schork NJ, Bloss CS, Nurnberger..., Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet, 1/1/2012
Genome-wide DNA methylation scan in major depressive disorder
Sabunciyan S, Aryee MJ, Irizarry RA, Rongione M, Webster MJ, Kaufmann WE, Murakami P, Lessard A, GenRED consortium, Yolken RH, Feinberg AP, Potash JB, PLoS One, 1/1/2012
An ontology-based knowledgebase for synaptic genes
Pirooznia M, Wang T, Avramopoulos D, Valle D, Thomas G, Huganir RL, Goes FS, Potash JB, Zandi PP. Synaptome DB, Bioinformatics, 1/1/2012
Comorbid anxiety disorders in bipolar disorder and major depression: familial aggregation and clinical characteristics of comorbid panic disorder, social phobia, speci...
Goes FS, McCusker MM, Bienvenu OJ, MacKinnon DF, Mondimore FM, Schweizer B, NIMH Genetics Initiative Bipolar Disorder Consortium, DePaulo Jr JR, and Potash JB, Psychological Medicine, 1/1/2012
Genome wide linkage analysis of 972 bipolar pedigrees using single nucleotide polymorphisms
Badner J, Koller D, Foroud T, Edenberg H, Nurnberger J, Zandi PP, Willour VL, McMahon FJ, Potash JB, Hamshere M, Grozeva D, Green E, Kirov G, Jones I, Jones L, Craddoc..., Mol Psychiatry, 1/1/2012
Meta-analysis of genetic association studies on bipolar disorder
Seifuddin F, Mahon PB, Judy J, Pirooznia M, Jancic D, Taylor J, Goes FS, Potash JB, Zandi PP, Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet, 1/1/2012
Reply to “Replication of association of 3p211 with susceptibility to bipolar disorder but not major depression”
McMahon FJ, Akula N, Cichon S, Detera-Wadleigh SD, Edenberg H, Holsboer F, Nöthen MM, Nurnberger JI, Potash J, Preisig M, Rietschel M and Schulze TG, Nat Genet, 1/1/2011
A measure of glucocorticoid load provided by DNA methylation of Fkbp5 in mice
Lee RS, Tamashiro KL, Yang X, Purcell RH, Huo Y, Rongione M, Potash JB, Wand GS, Psychopharmacology, 1/1/2011
Join now to see all

Lectures

Psychiatry Postgraduate Conference
UI Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa - 10/11/2013
Psychiatry Postgraduate Conference
UI Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa - 10/11/2013

Press Mentions

'More Ill, More Desperate': How Hospitals Are Responding to Changing Mental Health TrendsNovember 15th, 2021
Psilocybin Research at Johns HopkinsOctober 17th, 2019
Magic Mushrooms as Medicine? Johns Hopkins Scientists Launch Center for Psychedelic Research. Say Psychedelics Could Treat Alzheimer’s, Depression and AddictionSeptember 12th, 2019
Join now to see all

Grant Support

A Genome-Wide Approach To The Epigenetics Of Stress And DepressionNational Institute Of Mental Health2011
1/2 RARE Bipolar Loci Identification Through Synaptome SequencingNational Institute Of Mental Health2010–2011
A Genome-Wide Approach To The Epigenetics Of Stress And DepressionNational Institute Of Mental Health2010
Genetic Linkage And Association In Bipolar DisorderNational Institute Of Mental Health2005–2009
Genetics Of Early Onset DepressionNational Institute Of Mental Health2006–2008
Epigenetic Variation And Its Determinants In DepressionNational Institute Of Mental Health2005–2008
Studies Of Genomic Imprinting In Bipolar DisorderNational Institute Of Mental Health2001–2005

Professional Memberships

American Psychiatric Association - APA
Member