Claude M. Chemtob, PhD is a Research Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Chemtob directs the Family Trauma Research Program, specializing in trauma in adults and children. Dr. Chemtob is internationally known for his work with children and families exposed to disaster and terrorism. His work has brought forward public health approaches to the identification and treatment of traumatized children. He has been a pioneer in using school-based interventions following disasters and terrorist attacks. Dr. Chemtob published the first randomized controlled studies of the treatment of children for disaster-related trauma symptoms and for disaster-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His public health approach is being used with terrorism, disaster, and war-exposed preschoolers and their families in five Israeli cities.
Dr. Chemtob received his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1980. He has published widely on culture and trauma and was a pioneer in the development of information processing approaches to understanding trauma and PTSD. More recently, he has become engaged in the development of interventions that promote resilience in the face of adversities ranging from life-threatening illness to the transition to foster care.
Dr. Chemtob is currently the principal investigator of a National Child Traumatic Stress Network Treatment Services Adaptation for Child Trauma that focuses on enhancing trauma-related services in the child welfare system. This work is in partnership with the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), New York City's public child welfare system. The collaboration with ACS has resulted in the creation of the ACS-NYU Children's Trauma Institute (CTI), a unique public-academic collaboration. Major CTI projects include (1) developing a treatment for trauma-exposed mothers to prevent child maltreatment, (2) development of the "working it out" program that ties acquiring work-skills for adolescents in foster care and working through the residual impacts of trauma and neglect to support their success, and (3) The HEART Project seeking to mitigate the effects of removal and reduce placement disruption.
Dr. Chemtob was a consultant to the Presidential Commission of the French Republic that established that nation's post-terrorism recovery system. He served as a member of New York State and City Advisory Committee pertaining to post 9/11 mental health recovery. Dr. Chemtob was also a consultant to the National Advisory Committee on Children and Terrorism and currently consults on terrorism response in Israel where he has several active projects.
