Who We Are

Laura Mufson, PhD, is a Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at Columbia University Medical Center (CUIMC), co-director of the Office of Clinical Psychology at CUMC, and director of the Department of Clinical Psychology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. In addition, she is director of Clinical Child Psychology in Child Psychiatry and director of training for the Child Track of the APA–Accredited Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology. She is the developer of the adolescent adaptation of interpersonal psychotherapy for depression (IPT-A) and is the author of many publications on adolescent depression, temperament, psychopathology, and risk factors for psychopathology. She is a consulting research psychologist on the Children’s Day Unit.

Dr. Mufson's primary interest is in the evaluation of empirically supported psychotherapy outcomes, both in the efficacy and effectiveness arenas. She is currently studying a model of stepped-care treatment for adolescent depression delivered in pediatric primary care clinics. She is a principal investigator, co-investigator, and/or consultant with colleagues on numerous grants studying adaptations of IPT-A to be delivered in schools and community clinics, as well as models for prevention of depression, anxiety, and peer victimization, and for the treatment of prepubertal depression.