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
Special Interests
Effects of violence on children
Editing
Editorial board member:
- Journal of Trauma and Dissociation
- Violence Update
- Psychiatry
- Development and Psychopathology
- Journal of Emotional Abuse
- Journal of Traumatic Stress
- Child Abuse & Neglect
Related Areas
This person works in these other areas at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center:
