| James Shields | |
| Birth Date: | 21 November 1918 |
| Birth Place: | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Nationality: | Scottish |
| Fields: | Psychiatric genetics |
| Workplaces: | Maudsley Hospital |
| Education: | Merton College, Oxford London School of Economics |
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| Thesis1 Year: | and |
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| Known For: | Schizophrenia research Twin studies |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth Shields |
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| Children: | Julia (now Julia Donaldson, children's writer) and Mary (now Mary Moore) |
James Shields (21 November 1918 – 20 June 1978) was a Scottish psychiatric geneticist and twin researcher.[1] In the 1960s, he worked with Irving Gottesman on a twin study of schizophrenia at the Medical Research Council Psychiatric Genetics Unit at Maudsley Hospital in London, England. This study, known as the Maudsley twin study, is now considered a landmark in the field.[2] He had previously begun working for Eliot Slater at Maudsley after serving in the United Kingdom's Royal Artillery during World War II.[3] He was a fellow of the Eugenics Society and the International Society for Twin Studies.[1] After Shields died in 1978, Gottesman founded the annual James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research in his honor.[4]