Dr. James Brašić - Bio

As a teenager growing up in Chicago, James Brašić faced two very different career choices: indulge his lifelong love of music, or pursue a scientific avenue that would enable him to effect huge improvements in people's lives.

Dr. Brašić chose the latter, but manages to juggle a demanding and groundbreaking career as a researcher, most recently at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore, while pursuing his passion for the Arts, music composition, dance, travel and, above all, for people. Trained as a Psychiatrist, with years spent honing his knowledge working with inpatients around North America, he is an emerging world expert in the highly specialized field of nuclear brain imaging of nervous and mental disorders. A prolific writer of many scientific papers, an in-demand International guest lecturer and a talented teacher, Dr. Brašić is deeply committed to his research, which has wide-ranging implications for a spectrum of health issues. His present area of concentration however, is around a much-misunderstood syndrome that most people equate to highly dysfunctional and anti-social actions. It was early observation that led to Dr. Brašić's fascination for his current field as a research child and adolescent neuropsychiatrist. He explains: "My heritage is Eastern European (Croatian/Yugoslavian) and I grew up in an ethnically diverse, close-knit community. You noticed things about friends and neighbours and I was fascinated by unconscious traits that seemed to trap them into behavioural problems in childhood and almost inevitably led to an inability to keep afloat in our society. I wanted to understand what was really going on and I wanted to help."

In the movies, Tourette's Syndrome is stereotyped by the uncontrollable mouthing of obscenities and incessant physical twitching. It is this image that frightens most people and one that those who are familiar with the condition, like Dr. Brašić and actress and spokesperson Neve Campbell, who works tirelessly to correct the misconceptions that target sufferers like her brother, want to shed light on. In reality, it is a little-understood syndrome most common in men which first appears in childhood, but may later disappear, and affects 1in 5,000 people with manifestations as minor as rapid eye blinking to major symptoms that completely disrupt the ability to function normally on any level.

As fascinating as his work is, Dr. Brašić also leads a rich parallel life. As a child music was all around him. His father played Folk accordion but James started playing flute at a young age, spent ten years performing at a serious level and continued to study music throughout his medical training. Although he rarely plays his beloved flute now he still composes music for orchestra to this day and has incorporated his love of dance into specially commissioned work to accompany the oeuvres of several modern choreographers. A born researcher, Dr. Brašić, who thrives on experiencing life first hand, also trained as a dancer in various iconic New York institutions, included the Joffrey Ballet School and the Broadway Dance Centre. He still dances whenever possible. According to him it "maintains my sanity."

An inventive and enthusiastic scientific writer and commentator who livens dry medical text with a musician's flair, Brašić has also recently merged his prowess with a pen and extensive work and personal travel experiences. He has begun to train his analytic eye and artists' sensibility on the world of travel writing and also plans to pursue a growing interest in the field of documentary filmmaking. Widely acknowledged as one of America's top Psychiatrists and Physicians, he has been dubbed by many as a Renaissance Man. With his unquenchable thirst for learning about the world around him and his dry wit Dr. James Brašić is the first to quip however that: "Some people also call me a Jack of all Trades - and you know how the rest of that saying goes."

Recent Notes:
 

• Board-certified in neurology, adult psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
• Currently volunteers on the Medical Advisory Board of the Greater Washington Chapter of the Tourette Syndrome Association and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).
• Served as a Major in the Medical Corps of the United States Airforce Reserve and was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal.

His current research is sponsored with support from: the Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA), The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), The Essel Foundation, the Rett Syndrome Research Foundation (RSRF), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

He appears in Eric Hollander's book Autism Spectrum Disorders, for which he receives minor royalties for penning the chapter on the treatment of movement disorders in autism. He is in the process of inviting healthy people with Tourette's Syndrome aged 18 to 70, on no medication, to contact him directly to volunteer for research studies of the condition.

Background:
 

• College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University (Medical Science)
• College of Arts and Sciences, New York University (Mathematics)
• School of Medicine, Boston University (Medicine)
• Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri (Music Composition)
• School of Public Health, Columbia University (Sociomedical sciences)
• School of Public Health, Columbia University (Biostatistics)
• Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University (Statistics)
• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Fellow
• American Academy of Neurology
• Baltimore Composers Forum
• Community of Science
• Movement Disorder Society
• New York Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• New York University-Bellevue Psychiatric Society

Academic Appointments:
 

• Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio
• Instructor in Pediatrics and Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
• Instructor in Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York
• Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, N.Y.
• Ast. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, N.Y.
• Adjunct Ast. Professor of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York
• Post-doctoral Fellow in Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Hospital Appointments:
 

• Psychiatrist, United States Air Force Medical Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
• Psychiatrist I, Rockland Children's Psychiatric Center, Orangeburg, New York
• Ast. Attending Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Harlem Hospital Center, New York
• Associate Attending Physician, Department of Psychiatry, Harlem Hospital Center, New York
• Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, New York
• Assistant Attending Psychiatrist, Columbia Presbyterian Division, New York Presbyterian Hospital,
• Clinical Assistant Attending in Psychiatry, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York
• Clinical and Research Fellow in Radiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland"