Bennett L. Leventhal MD

Bennett Leventhal, M.D. was born in Chicago and grew up in Arkansas, Illinois, and Louisiana. After receiving his medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Dr. Leventhal completed his child and adolescent psychiatry training at Duke University, serving there as chief resident and junior faculty member. Following two years as a medical officer at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia, Dr. Leventhal joined the University of Chicago; there he served as Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics and, as Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for more than two decades. In recognition of his distinguished services, he remains the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Emeritus, at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Leventhal then moved to the University of Illinois College of Medicine and the Institute for Juvenile Research where he was Professor and Director of the Center for Child Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience. After 5 years as Deputy Director, Nathan S. Kline Institute of Psychiatric Research, in 2014, Dr. Leventhal moved the University of California San Francisco where he is Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Deputy Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Deputy Director of the Center for Autism Spectrum and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

Dr. Leventhal is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Leventhal has been a leader in national and regional efforts to promote children’s mental health research and to create comprehensive, cutting-edge systems of care for children’s mental health. These efforts include membership on the Board of The Northwestern University Child and Family Justice Center and, Directorship of the State of Illinois Autism Project. He is also highly regarded more broadly in the field of medicine as exemplified by his prior membership of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the Illinois State Medical Board.