The Ideal Age to Father Babies is 25 to 30, before 35 would limit genetic disorders due to paternal age

For now, prospective parents might want to rethink their plans about when to have children, says Herbert Meltzer, a psychiatrist and widely recognized schizophrenia expert at Vanderbilt University. He believes the risks for children of older fathers will eventually be seen to be as noteworthy as the risks facing older mothers. “It’s going to be more and more of an issue to society,” he notes. “Schizophrenia is a terrible disease, and anything that can be done to reduce it is terribly important.”


Meltzer thinks women should take a man’s age into consideration when choosing a partner to have children with. And men might want to think about having sperm stored when they are young. Because despite the advances in understanding autism and schizophrenia, treatment is limited and difficult, and a cure remains elusive.


Herbert Meltzer, M.D.
Bixler/May/Johnson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of PharmacologyHerbert.Meltzer@Vanderbilt.eduDr. Herbert Meltzer has been a member of the faculty since 1996. He is the Bixler/May/Johnson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Pharmacology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine where he is director of the Psychosis Program. He has received the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research, Efron Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Gold Medal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and numerous other awards for his research in schizophrenia and its treatment. Dr. Meltzer has been the president of the American (ACNP) and the International (CINP) Colleges of Neuropsychopharmacology.EducationB.A. Cornell University, Ithaca, New YorkM.A. Harvard University, Cambridge, MassachusettsM.D. Yale University, New Haven, ConnecticutPostgraduate TrainingIntern in Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, New York, New YorkResident in Psychiatry, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MassachusettsAreas of Clinical ExpertiseSchizophrenia, psychopharmacology, antipsychotic drug development, cognitionResearch interestsInvestigating the cognitive deficit in schizophrenia; identification of new antipsychotic drugs; studying the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs; genes conveying risk for schizophrenia; pharmacogenetics; pharmacoeconomics; suicide preventionRepresentative publications1) Meltzer H, Alphs L, Green A. Altamura A, Anand R, Bertoldi A, Bourgeois M, Chouinard G, Islam M, Kane J, Krishnan R, Lindenmayer J-P, Potkin S (2003): International Suicide Prevention Trial (InterSePT): reduced suicidality in schizophrenia with clozapine treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry 60(7):735.2) Meltzer HY, Arvanitis L, Bauer D, Rein W (2004): A placebo-controlled evaluation of four novel compounds for the treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 161:6 20043) Li Z, Ichikawa J, Huang M, Prus AJ, Dai J, Meltzer HY (2005). ACP-103, a 5-HT2A/2C inverse agonist, potentiates haloperidol-induced dopamine release in rat medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens. Psychopharmacology (Berl);183(2):144-53, 2005.4) Basu A, HY Meltzer (2006). Differential trends in prevalence of diabetes and unrelated general medical illness for schizophrenia patients before and after the atypical antipsychotic era. Schizophrenia Research 86(1-3):99-109, 20065) Woodward Neil D., Purdon E. Scot, Meltzer Herbert Y, Zald David H (2007). A meta-analysis of cognitive change with haloperidol in clinical trials of atypical antipsychotics: Dose effects and comparison to practice effects. Schizophrenia Research 89: 211-224.