Carla J. Shatz (born 1947) is an American neurobiologist and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Medicine. She was the first woman to receive a PhD in neurobiology from Harvard. Shatz received a tenured position in the basic sciences at Stanford Medical School and later returned to Harvard to head the university's Department of Neurobiology. In both cases, Shatz was the first woman hired for the position.