Personally…

Peter is the third of eight children, growing up mostly in Seattle. While still a pre-teen, after reading about the great humanitarian physician Albert Schweizer, he decided he wanted to become a doctor.  When preparing to attend college, and while deciding his major in college, he received advice from multiple sources that wanna-be doctors should broaden themselves during their college education, rather than just majoring in pre-med courses such as biochemistry, physiology, and biology.  Accordingly, he decided on psychology, believing that area of study would be relevant to medicine but would provide a useful complement to his later studies in medical school.  Because he needed to support himself through college, he obtained a part-time job as a peer counselor, which greatly impacted his future choices. He discovered that he loved talking with people and working with them intensively, but he wasn’t ready to surrender his ambitions for medical school. So in looking over potential medical specialties, he realized that the discipline of psychiatry would most closely align with his passion for people and human interaction within the overall field of medicine.

The other key life experience that shaped Peter’s future interests (and passion for helping families) was the fact that he lost three siblings along the way…one while Peter was still in high school, another just before beginning medical school, and another after he completed his psychiatry training.

Professionally…

Peter attended the George Washington University School of Medicine, and then returned to the west coast—San Francisco--eventually receiving his specialty training certifications in general psychiatry and the sub-specialty of child and adolescent psychiatry.  Because the Army had paid for his medical school, he then performed six years of obligated “pay-back” service, first at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, and then at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington, D.C.

Upon completing his Army service, he joined the Public Health Service to work at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he first served as the Branch Chief, NIMH Child & Adolescent Disorders Research Branch, before later being promoted as Associate Director, NIMH, for Child & Adolescent Research.  In those positions, he mounted, led, and participated in multiple national multi-site research studies on the assessment and treatment of various child behavioral disorders, such as ADHD, autism, depression, and anxiety disorders.  

Peter then joined Columbia University in 2000 to assume an endowed chair and to head a new research dissemination center focused on training practicing physicians and therapists across the country, ensuring that they get updated and learn to provide the children and families under their care with the latest, research-proven interventions. While at Columbia, he founded a new non-profit organization, The REACH Institute (www.TheREACHInstitute.org), which enabled this original mission (ensuring that providers learn and are able to provide the latest interventions) to reach other universities, states, and health care organizations.  

He left New York in 2009 to join the Mayo Clinic’s Department of Psychiatry & Psychology, where he co-led the Division of Child Psychiatry & Psychology, eventually becoming the Vice-Chair of the Department (Research) until his retirement in 2013.  In 2014 he was appointed Professor of Psychiatry & Acting Director, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, then moving to Adjunct Professor in 2018.

Peter has held multiple national offices, including President of the International Society for Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Secretary and Council Member of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and a member of the CHADD Board and its Scientific Advisory Board.  A passionate advocate for child & family mental health, Peter is also the author of over 300 peer-reviewed articles and chapters and 20 books, has done many hundreds of national presentations, and has received awards for his research, teaching, and child advocacy from multiple national organizations, including awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the Society for Child Psychiatric Nursing, CHADD, and NAMI.

Now in practice for nearly 40 years, with experience working with children, families, couples, and teaching over 4000 physicians and 1000 therapists (through the REACH Institute), Peter is a seasoned counselor, advisor, and consultant, and always eager to provide new insights and inputs to complicated therapeutic problems.