William B. Lawson is an American professor,

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 a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (DLFAPA).

Early life

Lawson grew up on a farm in West Point, Virginia.

Education

Lawson earned his PhD in psychology from the University of New Hampshire. He then went on to earn his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago and finished a residency in adult psychiatry at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. He then finished a fellowship in psychopharmacology at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Career and research

Lawson has been a professor at the

University of Illinois, Urbana The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign, Illinois, Champai ...

, University of California, Irvine, Vanderbilt University, University of Arkansas, Howard University, and Huston–Tillotson University. He also was a professor and Associate Dean of Health Disparities at Dell Medical School. While at Howard University, Lawson oversaw a partnership between the university and the island of Bermuda. Howard University provided psychiatry consultation services to the island. In 2015, Lawson served as the editor in chief of the ''Journal of the National Medical Association''. His research is focused on mental health and substance abuse disparities.

Awards and honors

Lawson is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In 2002 the APA awarded him the Jeanne Spurlock, M.D. Minority Fellowship Achievement Award. In 2013 Lawson was awarded the American Psychiatric Foundation's award for Advancing Minority Mental Health. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Solomon Carter Fuller Award for African American Pioneers. In 2017 he received the George Winokur Clinical Research Award from the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists. Lawson has also received the E.Y. Williams Clinical Scholar of Distinction Award from the

National Medical Association The National Medical Association (NMA) is the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and their patients in the United States. The NMA is a 501(c)(3) national professional and scientific organization repr ...

Books

Lawson's writings on bipolar disorder in African Americans was published in ''Perspectives in Cross-cultural Psychiatry''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, William B. Living people University of New Hampshire alumni Pritzker School of Medicine alumni Year of birth missing (living people)