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Jonathan Picker

MBChB, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Director, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program Course

Attending Physician in Clinical Genetics, Boston Children’s Hospital

Director, Pharmacogenomics Service

Dr. Picker graduated in Medicine from Aberdeen University in Scotland. He followed this with training in Pediatrics and a PhD in Molecular Biology (Agriculture), both carried out in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Following this he undertook clinical genetics and child and adolescent psychiatry training at Boston Children’s Hospital where he has stayed on as faculty.

He is focused on bringing personalized medicine into the mainstream. His research is focused on application of genomics with special reference to behavioral disorders.

At BCH, he is focused on development of personalized medicine through leading the education of trainees (as director of the Advanced Human Genetics Course at Harvard Medical School) as well as directly via the co-founding and co- directorship of the BCH Pharmacogenomic clinic, the first dedicated precision medicine clinical initiative at BCH. In addition to clinical care, this clinic plays a central role in training and support within and beyond the hospital. 

Jonathan Picker

MBChB, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Director, Harvard Medical School Genetics Training Program Course

Attending Physician in Clinical Genetics, Boston Children’s Hospital

Director, Pharmacogenomics Service

Dr. Picker graduated in Medicine from Aberdeen University in Scotland. He followed this with training in Pediatrics and a PhD in Molecular Biology (Agriculture), both carried out in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Following this he undertook clinical genetics and child and adolescent psychiatry training at Boston Children’s Hospital where he has stayed on as faculty.

He is focused on bringing personalized medicine into the mainstream. His research is focused on application of genomics with special reference to behavioral disorders.

At BCH, he is focused on development of personalized medicine through leading the education of trainees (as director of the Advanced Human Genetics Course at Harvard Medical School) as well as directly via the co-founding and co- directorship of the BCH Pharmacogenomic clinic, the first dedicated precision medicine clinical initiative at BCH. In addition to clinical care, this clinic plays a central role in training and support within and beyond the hospital. 

Recent Publications

Latent Class Analysis Identifies Distinctive Behavioral Subtypes in Children with Fragile X Syndrome

Published On 2022 Nov 28

Journal article

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is characterized by variable neurobehavioral abnormalities, which leads to difficulties in developing and evaluating treatments and in determining accurate prognosis. We employed a pediatric cross-sectional sample (1,072 males, 338 females) from FORWARD, a clinic-based natural history study, to identify behavioral subtypes by latent class analysis. Input included co-occurring behavioral conditions, sleep and sensory problems, autistic behavior scales (SCQ, SRS-2), and...


Germline variants in tumor suppressor FBXW7 lead to impaired ubiquitination and a neurodevelopmental syndrome

Published On 2022 Apr 08

Journal article

Neurodevelopmental disorders are highly heterogenous conditions resulting from abnormalities of brain architecture and/or function. FBXW7 (F-box and WD-repeat-domain-containing 7), a recognized developmental regulator and tumor suppressor, has been shown to regulate cell-cycle progression and cell growth and survival by targeting substrates including CYCLIN E1/2 and NOTCH for degradation via the ubiquitin proteasome system. We used a genotype-first approach and global data-sharing platforms to...