A named professorship has been established at Yale to commemorate the contributions of the late Steven M. Southwick, MD, one of the world’s leading experts on psychological traumatization and human resilience.
At the time of his death on April 20, 2022, Southwick was the Glenn H. Greenberg Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, PTSD, and Resilience at Yale School of Medicine, and medical director emeritus of the Clinical Neuroscience Division of the National Center for PTSD of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
An anonymous donor made the gift that has enabled the university to pay tribute to Southwick’s many contributions to the study of the neurobiology and treatment of PTSD, and to the science of human resilience.
“Dr. Southwick was a wonderful role model, a brilliant scientist, gifted clinician, wonderful colleague, and a dedicated teacher and mentor,” said John H. Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry, of Neuroscience, and of Psychology, and chair of the Yale Department of Psychiatry.
“He lived the principles of human resilience that he developed and taught,” Krystal said. “For example, although quite ill, he inspired the task force that worked to reduce the psychological impact of the pandemic on healthcare workers and others in our medical community. We deeply miss him and his contributions to our community. The Southwick professorship is a wonderful way to keep his memory alive in our department. We deeply appreciate the donation that made this possible.”
Marc Potenza, MD, PhD, who earned his undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, and medical degrees at Yale, is the first Steven M. Southwick Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience.
“I’m thrilled that Marc Potenza is the inaugural Southwick professor,” Krystal said. “Like Dr. Southwick, Marc has spent his entire professional career at Yale. The two were also friends and collaborators. Marc has emerged as an important leader in the addiction field and an expert in non-drug addictions, like gambling disorder.”
“I am deeply honored to be the inaugural Steven M. Southwick professor," Potenza said. “I am particularly grateful to have worked with Professor Southwick and have experienced firsthand his kindness, thoughtfulness, and expertise in researching resilience in the setting of trauma. His pioneering perspective to focus on resilience is one that resonates strongly with me as resilience helps to empower people as they navigate often significantly disruptive life experiences. My hope is to continue research into what helps people manage stressful life events and thrive moving forward, and his work greatly facilitates future research in this area.”
Potenza, who completed internship, psychiatric residency, and addiction psychiatry fellowship training at Yale, leads the Division of Addiction Research within the Department of Psychiatry. He is also director of the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research at Yale, the Yale Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders, and the Women and Addictive Disorders Core of Women’s Health Research at Yale.
On the state level, he is a senior scientist at the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. Nationally and internationally, he has consulted to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Registry of Effective Programs, National Institutes of Health, American Psychiatric Association, and World Health Organization on matters of addiction. He is on the boards of multiple national organizations including Children and Screens, the Addiction Policy Forum and the National Center on Problem Gambling and is the president-elect of the International Society of Addiction Medicine.
He is on the editorial boards of more than one dozen journals and has received multiple national and international awards for excellence in research and clinical care.
Named professorships are among the highest honors Yale bestows on its faculty.