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Weisz Named Professor of Psychology in Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Cambridge, Mass. - May 2, 2008 - John Weisz, an eminent clinical psychologist at the forefront of the study of child psychology and developmental psychopathology, has been appointed professor of psychology in Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2007.
Weisz, 62, will continue to serve on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School (HMS), where he has been professor of psychology since 2005. He is also the president and CEO of the Judge Baker Children's Center at HMS, which he will continue to lead.
"John Weisz is a world leader in the field of developmental psychopathology, and his work has had an enormous impact on research, clinical treatment and policy within the field," says David Cutler, divisional dean for the social sciences in FAS. "His joint appointment within FAS and Harvard Medical School is ideal because of his talent for innovative research and for the translation of that knowledge to a clinical setting."
Weisz, who studies issues pertaining to the treatment of children and adolescents who suffer from psychopathological disorders, is regarded as an authority on evaluating evidence-based treatments for childhood mental disorders, with a particular emphasis on depression. His work uses clinical research to both inform public policy and improve the lives of children with mental disorders. His research and perspective in relation to treatment is summarized in his book Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents, published by Cambridge University Press in 2004.
Weisz's research has demonstrated disparities between the effects seen in treatment during clinical studies and in the real world. By creating a "research-to-practice" agenda, Weisz has had an impact on policy and shifted focus to the importance of transferring research from the university laboratory into clinical service settings.
His work has also shown that treatment of depressed children is not as effective and the effects of treatment are not as long-lasting as clinicians might hope, and that in one year, residual effects of treatment are no longer present in depressed children. He has also found that perceptions of parental rejection are associated with symptoms of depression, and that an important factor in the development of depressive symptoms is a child's perceived ability to exert control over events in his or her life.
By comparing children in Thailand with their American counterparts, Weisz has also studied child mental health problems from a cross-cultural perspective. His research has demonstrated that many problems and syndromes are shared between the two cultures, but that Thai children show markedly elevated rates of somatic problems (especially headaches) and that parental responses to child dysfunction, and pathways into clinical care, are quite different in the two countries.
Weisz received his B.A. in psychology from Mississippi College in 1967, and his Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University in 1975.
Weisz joined the faculty of the Harvard Medical School as visiting professor and president and CEO of the Judge Baker Children's Center in 2004. Prior to coming to Harvard, he was both professor of psychology and professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he joined the faculty in 1990. Between 1978 and 1990 he was assistant professor, then associate professor, and finally professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was an assistant professor at Cornell University between 1975 and 1978.
He has served as the president of the Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, the chair of the Committee on Science and Practice of the Society of Clinical Psychology and the chair of the Committee on Evidence Based Practice for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. From 2001-2003, he was the president of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. From 2001 to present he has served as the Director of the Research Network on Youth Mental Health, sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
In 2004, he received the Nicholas Hobbs Award from the American Psychological Association's Division of Child, Youth and Family Services, and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Psychology Award from the California Psychological Association. In 2005 he received the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Between 2004 and 2007 he was a member of the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association, and in 2006 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.
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