SACRAMENTO — Robert Hendren, executive director of the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and chief of child and adolescent psychiatry for the UC Davis School of Medicine, has been elected president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He will serve a two-year term, from October 2007 through October 2009. Hendren's predecessor in the position was Thomas Anders, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and former executive associate dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. It is the first time in the academy's history that consecutive presidents were from the same institution.
“New knowledge about how children develop emotionally and behaviorally makes this a most exciting time for child and adolescent psychiatry and the academy,” said Hendren. “Yet, there is a serious shortage of professionals in our specialty. My goal as president is to share our unique and valuable knowledge about child mental health with a broad audience through decision-informing programs on our Web site.”
Hendren is a child and adolescent psychiatrist with expertise in both mental and developmental disorders. His clinical and research efforts have encompassed treating autism, ADHD, depressive disorders, eating disorders, aggression and schizophrenia, along with using new technology to identify serious psychiatric disorders early and designing interventions that reduce their severity. At the M.I.N.D. Institute, Hendren provides vision and leadership to a collaborative team of researchers — from pediatricians to neuroscientists — who are finding causes, treatments, preventions and cures for neurodevelopmental disorders.
“Through his leadership of the M.I.N.D. Institute, Bob Hendren has demonstrated that he is a highly skilled academician and administrator,” said Robert Hales, chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences for the UC Davis School of Medicine. “He will now be able to apply his special talents to developing new initiatives that will benefit both the members of AACAP and the patients served by this outstanding organization.”
Hendren knew he wanted to be a child psychiatrist at age 13. After earning his medical degree from the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine, he did his medical residency in general psychiatry at the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education and his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center.
His professional experience prior to joining UC Davis includes serving as director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry at the George Washington University, director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico and director of the divisions of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Behavioral Research and Training Institute at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
AACAP, which has a membership of over 8,000, is the leading national professional medical association for child and adolescent psychiatrists in the United States. The organization promotes broader understanding of mental, behavioral and developmental illnesses and strives to remove the stigma associated with those illnesses, advances prevention efforts, and assures proper treatment and access to services for children and adolescents.