Emily Olfson, MD, PhD

Emily Olfson, MD, PhD, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who cares for children, teens, and adults with conditions such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), tic disorders, trichotillomania (hair-pulling), excoriation disorder (skin-picking), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), misophonia, and anxiety disorders. She works in the Tic and OCD Program at the Yale Child Study Center.

Dr. Olfson evaluates each patient carefully to understand how symptoms affect daily life at home, in school, and in relationships. She offers care that may include therapy, medication, or both, and she aims to help patients and families understand their diagnoses and treatment options in clear, straightforward language.

As an assistant professor at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Olfson is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on the genetics and biology of childhood-onset psychiatric conditions. Her laboratory studies how changes in genes and brain pathways may contribute to conditions such as trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, ADHD, tic disorders, OCD, misophonia, and childhood anxiety disorders, with the goal of informing future approaches to diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Olfson earned her medical and doctoral degree in human and statistical genetics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed her internship and residency in psychiatry, followed by fellowship training in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry through the Yale Solnit Integrated Program at Yale School of Medicine.