Gerald L. Klerman (1928 – April 3, 1992) was an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and researcher whose work included the development of

interpersonal psychotherapy Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a brief, attachment-focused psychotherapy that centers on resolving interpersonal problems and symptomatic recovery. It is an empirically supported treatment (EST) that follows a highly structured and time-limite ...

, a short-term treatment for depression. He was chief of the US national mental health agency from 1977 to 1980.

Early life and education

Klerman was born in New York City. He graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1950 and was a member of the

Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated t ...

society, and graduated from

New York University School of Medicine NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

in 1954. After a year-long

medical internship A medical intern is a physician in training who has completed medical school and has a medical degree but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised. Medical education generally ends with a period of practical training similar ...

Bellevue Hospital Center Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States b ...

in New York, he went on to complete his psychiatry residency at the

Massachusetts Mental Health Center The Massachusetts Mental Health Center is a historic psychiatric hospital complex at 75 Fenwood Road in the Longwood medical area of Boston, Massachusetts. The center was founded in 1912 as the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Its original main ...

in Boston.Keller, MB (December 1992). "In memoriam: Gerald L. Klerman, MD, 1928–1992." ''

Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology The ''Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins covering clinical psychopharmacology. It was founded by Richard I. Shader, MD in 1981 as the first journal of an interna ...

'' 12 (6): 379-81.

Career

Klerman's expertise included depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. From 1966 to 1970 he was on faculty at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

where he also held the position of director of the university's mental health center. He subsequently worked at Harvard.Lambert, Bruce (April 5, 1992).
Gerald L. Klerman, 63, an Expert On Depression and Schizophrenia
. ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Retrieved June 28, 2011. From 1977 to 1980, he was the head of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration, appointed by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

. Klerman's second wife,

Myrna Weissman Myrna Milgram Weissman is Diane Goldman Kemper Family Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia ...

, was his collaborator for his work in interpersonal psychotherapy. Following a long history of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, Klerman died of

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Inflammation can ...

on April 3, 1992, in New York City.

Books authored

* ''Interpersonal Psychotherapy of Depression'' (with Myrna M. Weissman, Bruce J. Rounsaville, and Eve S. Chevron), 1984. * ''Contemporary Directions in Psychopathology: Toward the DSM-IV'', 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klerman, Gerald American psychiatrists 1928 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American physicians Cornell University alumni Members of the National Academy of Medicine