James Abelson, MD, PhD, is Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan (UM) Psychiatry. He has a PhD in Clinical Psychology (1980, Michigan State Univ) and a subsequent MD from UM (1984), where he also completed residency and an Anxiety Fellowship. He was a faculty member in UM’s Psychiatry Department, as psychologist and psychiatrist, for 36 years. He directed UM’s Anxiety Disorders Program (clinically and scientifically) for 27 years. This program has integrated clinical and scientific activity since its inception. It has also always been committedly interdisciplinary, delivering empirically-proven psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatments since 1978, with nurse-practitioners, social-workers, psychologists and psychiatrists, plus trainees from all disciplines. He has had multiple R01s (continuous NIMH funding for 30+ years) and over 150 research publications. He also served his department as Academic Director for Ambulatory Services, where he carried responsibilities for faculty development and mentoring at the clinical-academic interface.
He has been active in ADAA since 1990 (missing only 1 annual meeting and presenting at all but 6 meetings between 1990 and 2025), serving on the Scientific Council for 23 years, and helping to lead development of ADAA’s first mentoring program for travel award winners and the Don Klein Early Career Investigator Award. Although science has always been a central part of his career, he considers his most impactful contributions to have come from clinical work, clinical leadership, and mentoring.
