Mayerson Center

Frank W. Putnam, MD

Title

Director, Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children, Trauma Treatment Replication Center

Appointment

Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry

Email

frank.putnam@cchmc.org

Phone

513-636-7001

Fax

513-636-0204

Bio

Following his training in adult psychiatry at Yale University, Frank W. Putnam, MD, joined the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program (NIMH) in Bethesda, MD, studying biological rhythms and neuroendocrine systems in rapid cycling bipolar patients. There he encountered a large number of psychiatric patients who reported histories of child maltreatment.

Dr. Putnam began working with patients who suffered from trauma-related disorders, pioneering studies of brain electrical activity mapping and other techniques in this area. Working with adult victims of child abuse, Dr. Putnam became convinced that research with abused children was critical to understanding and reversing the negative psychological and biological effects of maltreatment.

In 1986, Dr. Putnam started a longitudinal research study of sexually abused girls with Penelope Trickett, PhD, a developmental psychologist at the University of Southern California. This study continues under the direction of Jennie Noll, PhD, and has produced a great deal of new information about the long-term effects of maltreatment on child development.

Convinced many of the lessons learned in this research can be applied to treatment of child abuse, Dr. Putnam left the NIMH to head the Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and to be director of the Trauma Treatment Replication Center, specializing in the transfer of evidence-based practices to community mental health providers.

The mission of the Center for Safe and Healthy Children is to develop a national child abuse prevention, evaluation and treatment center that develops and disseminates evidence-based interventions for the many negative effects of child abuse and neglect.

Dr. Putnam is on the advisory board for the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement.

Credentials

MD: Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, 1975.

Internship: Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, 1976.

Residency: Adult Psychiatry, Yale University 1976 to 1979; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Children's National Medical Center 1986 to 1989.

Certifications: Adult Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Awards and Honors

Best Doctors in America, 2008
Martin Luther King Governor's Award for Health Awareness and Advocacy, 2006
Awarded "2005 Best Doctors"
Awarded "2004 Best Doctors"
Morton Prince Scientific Achievement Award, 1985
Corneila Wilbur Clinical Service Award, 1990
United States Public Health Service Medal of Commendation, 1992
Pierre Janet Scientific Writing Award, 1993

Research

Child abuse prevention and treatment
Neurodevelopmental effects of trauma
Dissociative disorders

Professional Organization Memberships

American Association for the Advancement of Science / AAAS
New York Academy of Sciences / NYAS
International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies / ISTSS, board of directors, 1997 to 2001
Fellow, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / AACAP
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Child / APSAC