John Piacentini, PhD

Dr. Piacentini is a board-certified clinical child and adolescent psychologist whose works focuses on the development and testing of effective treatments for childhood anxiety and related disorders. Dr. Piacentini has played a lead role in several major treatment studies for these disorders and has published over 240 research papers, many in leading medical journals, chapters and books. In addition to his role as the Director of the UCLA CARES Center, Dr. Piacentini is Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Director of the UCLA Child OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders. He has a long history of child and family advocacy and serves on Boards for several organizations, including, nationally, the Anxiety Depression Association of America, the International OCD Foundation, the Tourette Syndrome Association Behavioral Sciences Consortium (Chair), the Trichotillomania Learning Center, the American Board of Professional Psychology, and, locally, the Santa Monica Malibu Education Foundation (Vice-President). In addition, he is also current President of the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.