Elliott Sherr completed his undergraduate education in biology and philosophy at Stanford University and attained his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Columbia University. He trained in pediatrics and completed his residency in child neurology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he also completed a research fellowship prior to opening his own lab.

Sherr is the founder and principal investigator of the UCSF Brain Development Research Program (BDRP) and is invested in elucidating the genetics of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and epilepsy, with a particular focus in brain malformations like the agenesis of the corpus callosum. Sherr is leading the BDRP to also better understand how brain structure and function is related to behavior using advanced imaging tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Sherr is the principal investigator of the neuroimaging core of the Simons Variation in Individuals Project (Simons VIP), which studies the most common known cause of autism, chromosomal rearrangements at 16p11.2. In addition to his efforts at the BDRP and the Simons VIP, Sherr co-directs the neurometabolic program and clinic at UCSF and is an active attending physician in the division of child neurology. Sherr was the recipient of the Philip R. Dodge Young Investigator Award from the Child Neurology Society and the Child Neurology Foundation Scientific Award.