John Piacentini

John Piacentini, Ph.D., ABPP., is an American clinical child and adolescent psychologist, professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at University of California, Los Angeles at David Geffen School of Medicine. He is currently the director of both the Center for Child Anxiety, Resilience, Education and Support (CARES) and the Child OCD, Anxiety and Tic Disorders Program at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Dr. Piacentini is noted for his research in cognitive behavior therapy and other effective treatments for children with obsessive compulsive disorder, other anxiety disorders, Tourette syndrome, tic disorders and trichotillomania. He has also developed or co-developed several self- and parent-report psychiatric measures including the Child OC Impact Scale-Revised (COIS-R) for obsessive compulsive disorder and the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ).

Dr. Piacentini is a Fellow of both the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. He also serves on Boards for several organizations, including, nationally, the president-elect of the American Board of Professional Psychology, and the Chair of the Tourette Syndrome Association Behavioral Sciences Consortium, as well as the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the International OCD Foundation, and the TLC Foundation for Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Dr. Piacentini is also past-president of the Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.