Louann Brizendine (born December 30, 1952) is an American scientist, a

neuropsychiatrist Neuropsychiatry or Organic Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals with psychiatry as it relates to neurology, in an effort to understand and attribute behavior to the interaction of neurobiology and social psychology factors. Within neurop ...

who is both a researcher and a clinician and professor at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...

(UCSF). She is the author of three books: '' The Female Brain'' (2006), ''The Male Brain'' (2010), and ''The Upgrade'' (2022).

Education

Brizendine did her undergraduate work from 1972–76 at UC Berkeley, where she received a bachelor of arts in neurobiology. She studied for her MD from 1976–81 at the Yale School of Medicine. She subsequently did a residency in psychiatry, MMHC, from 1982–85 at the Harvard Medical School.

Research and career

Brizendine's research concerns women's moods and hormones. She graduated in

neurobiology Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

, attended

Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

, and completed a residency in

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. She is board-certified in psychiatry and

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

and is an endowed clinical professor. She joined the faculty of

UCSF Medical Center The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center is a research and teaching hospital in San Francisco, California and is the medical center of the University of California, San Francisco. It is affiliated with the UCSF School of Medi ...

at the

Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute The Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (LPPI) is a psychiatric teaching hospital, part of the Psychiatry Department at the University of California, San Francisco. It is located at 401 Parnassus Avenue at Hillway Avenue on the Parnassus campus o ...

in 1988, and now holds the Lynne and Marc Benioff-endowed chair of psychiatry. In 1994, Brizendine founded the UCSF Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic, and continues to serve as its director.

Writing

Brizendine's book ''The Female Brain'' was reviewed both positively and negatively, especially one piece of content pertaining to linguistics and language. She later acknowledged that this book overemphasized gender-based differences, saying: "Males and females are more alike than they're different. After all, we are the same species". ''The Female Brain'' was loosely adapted as a romantic comedy movie of the same name in 2017. Brizendine served as the inspiration for the film's main character. She has also written ''The Male Brain'' and admitted that her books emphasize the differences between men and women, which has led to her "best-selling" success.

Publications

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References

External links

"The Female Brain" review
by Deborah Tannen
Louann Brizendine
Video produced by '' Makers: Women Who Make America'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Brizendine, Louann Living people Harvard Medical School alumni University of California, San Francisco faculty Yale School of Medicine alumni American women psychiatrists UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni 1952 births 21st-century American women