W. Edward Craighead, PhD, ABPP, holds the J. Rex Fuqua Endowed Chair and is Professor and Vice-Chair of the Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Division of the Emory School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Professor of Psychology at Emory University. After earning a PhD in Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1970, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University (State College) where he progressed through the academic ranks to Professor and Director of Clinical Training. In 1985, he moved to a Professorship at Duke University Psychiatry, directed a CBT program, and served as Director of Clinical Training in Psychology. After a decade at Duke, he moved to the University of Colorado-Boulder as Professor and Director of Clinical Training, and subsequently was selected to serve as Chair of the Psychology Department.
He has co-authored/edited 12 books, including a widely used graduate textbook, Psychopathology, co-edited with David Miklowitz and Linda Craighead. He helped launch and later served as Editor of Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, and was the Editor of Behavior Therapy. He is a Past President of: the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (now ABCT), the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, and the Society of Clinical Psychology (the Clinical Division of the American Psychological Association). His more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters have investigated psychosocial aspects, assessment, prevention, and treatments of major depressive disorder and bipolar disorders. His current research focuses on predictors of differential acute outcomes and maintenance of outcomes with CBT and antidepressants for treatment of depression among adults as well as mechanisms of therapeutic change for depressed adolescents. He has collaborated (with Eirikur Arnarson and other colleagues) on several European research projects evaluating programs aimed at preventing depression in Iceland, Portugal, Sweden, and Greece. The NIH and private foundations, including the Fuqua family foundations, AIM for Mental Health, and the Mary and John Brock Foundation, have supported his research. From the Society of Clinical Psychology, he received the Florence Halpern Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology and a Presidential Citation for his Lifetime Contributions to Clinical Psychology. He recently was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies.
In addition to his scholarly work and teaching, Dr. Craighead established and currently oversees a child, adolescent, and young adult clinic that each year serves approximately 1,500 patients. Together with his wife, Linda Wilcoxon Craighead-Emory Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training, he established an APA accredited Child and Adolescent Internship that is fully affiliated with Emory Psychology and trains three pre-doctoral interns each year. He continues to provide therapy for individuals with clinical problems, primarily major depressive and bipolar disorders.