Gerald L. Klerman was an American psychiatrist

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 and researcher whose work included the development of interpersonal psychotherapy

Interpersonal psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy is a time-limited psychotherapy that focuses on the interpersonal context and on building interpersonal skills. IPT is based on the belief that interpersonal factors may contribute heavily to psychological problems. It is commonly distinguished from other forms of...

, a short-term treatment for depression. He was a chief of the US national mental health agency.

Early life and education

Klerman was born in New York City. He graduated from Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 in 1950, and from New York University School of Medicine

New York University School of Medicine

The New York University School of Medicine is one of the graduate schools of New York University. Founded in 1841 as the University Medical College, the NYU School of Medicine is one of the foremost medical schools in the United States....

 in 1954. After a year-long medical internship at Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center

Bellevue Hospital Center, most often referred to as "Bellevue", was founded on March 31, 1736 and is the oldest public hospital in the United States. Located on First Avenue in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Bellevue is famous from many literary, film and television...

 in New York, he went on to complete his psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center

Massachusetts Mental Health Center

Massachusetts Mental Health Center is a historic building at 74 Fenwood Road in Boston, Massachusetts.The center was built in 1912 as Boston Psychopathic Hospital by Taylor Kendall and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994....

 in Boston.

Career

Klerman's expertise included depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders. From 1966 to 1970 he was on faculty at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 where he also held the position of director of the university's mental health center. He subsequently worked at Harvard.

From 1977 to 1980, he was the head of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration, appointed by President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

.

Klerman's second wife, Myrna Weissman, was his collaborator for his work in interpersonal psychotherapy. Following a long history of diabetes, Klerman died of kidney disease on April 3, 1992, in New York City.

Books authored

• Interpersonal Psychotherapy of Depression (with Myrna M. Weissman, Bruce J. Rounsaville, and Eve S. Chevron), 1984.
• Contemporary Directions in Psychopathology: Toward the DSM-IV, 1986.