Psychiatrist-in-Chief Chair and Executive Director
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Tami D. Benton, MD, is the Frederick H. Allen Chair in Child Psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). She is the Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at CHOP and Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She directs the Child and Adolescent Mood Program and the Youth Suicide Prevention Center at CHOP, a multidisciplinary clinical and research program focused on depression and suicide among children and adolescents, with an emphasis on minority youth. She is the President of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the Past President of the American Association of Directors of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AADCAP). She is also a distinguished fellow of AACAP. She was recently awarded the 2023 Service Award presented by the Council on Concerns of Women Physicians (CCWP) of the National Medical Association (NMA), the Blanche Ittelson Award for Child Psychiatry Research in 2023 by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the Shelly Leaphart-Williams Community Outreach Award by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the Humanitarian Award by the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the McGavin Award for Advocacy by the American Psychiatric Association, the Virginia Q. Anthony Women’s Leadership Award, and the Jeanne Spurlock Award for Leadership in Diversity and Culture by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She has served on the APA’s Council for Research, the NIMH Advisory Council, and previously as AACAP’s Program Committee Co-chair. She receives funding for research from the NIH, PCORI, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Benton’s career has been dedicated to developing leadership for a diverse child psychiatry workforce. Her mission is to prepare the next generation of diverse physician leaders in pediatric and mental health care and create partnerships between communities and academic centers that will be critical for eliminating disparities in health care.
