Each year, the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences invites a distinguished scholar to speak on campus as part of the Robert S. Wallerstein Visiting Lectureship in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. This lecture series is held in honor of the late Robert S. Wallerstein, MD, and focuses on showcasing psychoanalytic knowledge and clinical expertise that influence psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis.
The 2026 Robert S. Wallerstein Lecture in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy
The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences will host the 20th Robert S. Wallerstein Lecture in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, from 1:00–4:00 p.m. PDT at the UCSF Nancy Friend Pritzker Psychiatry Building. The event's keynote lecture, "Clinical Listening as Civic Practice," will be delivered by this year's honoree, Kimberlyn Leary, PhD, MPA.
Immediately following Dr. Leary's presentation will be a discussion, followed by a question and answer session for audience participants.
This event is free and open to the public, but is geared towards a professional audience. It will also be streamed live online via Zoom. Registration is required.
This program is approved for up to 3 AMA PRA Category 1™ CME/CE credits, which are managed by the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP). To receive credits, you will need to complete a program evaluation, which will be sent a week after the program ends. Completion of the evaluation is required to request credits. CME/CE credits are free for SFCP members and cost $45 for non-members. Payment can be made when you complete the evaluation.
Registration for this event will open on January 12, 2026. Please check back then for additional details and the registration link.
About this year's honoree
Kimberlyn Leary, PhD, MPA
Kimberlyn Leary, PhD, MPA, is the Emma Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Policy and Management at the Harvard Kennedy School and has served as the Executive Vice President at the Urban Institute and is a Senior Advisor at New America. She was a consulting advisor to the Gates Foundation and previously served as an advisor to the National Math and Science Initiative. She is also faculty affiliate at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, as well as at the Center for Public Leadership the Women and Public Policy Program and the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School.
Dr. Leary also holds academic appointments as an associate professor at Harvard Medical School/McLean Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has held two roles in federal service: in the Obama White House as an advisor to the Council on Women and Girls, as a senior advisor to the Biden White House Domestic Policy Council, and as a fellow in the Office of Management and Budget.
Dr. Leary holds an AB in Psychology from Amherst College, a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University. She also trained as a psychoanalyst at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute.
She has held fellowships from the Ford Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In April of 2024, she was a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center resident.
Dr. Leary is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Emma Willard School and the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. She currently serves as a Governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library and a Community Advisory Board Member at TD Bank.
Previous lectureship honorees
- 2025 - Francisco J. González, MD (video)
- 2024 - Jacques P. Barber, PhD, ABPP (video)
- 2023 - Mardi Horowitz, MD (video)
- 2021 - Alicia F. Lieberman, PhD (video)
- 2019 - Mark Solms, PhD (video: part 1 | part 2)
- 2018 - George Silberschatz, MD (video: part 1 | part 2)
- 2017 - Deborah L. Cabaniss, MD
- 2016 - Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD
- 2015 - Beatrice Beebe, PhD
- 2014 - Morris Eagle, PhD
- 2013 - Regina Pally, MD
- 2012 - Robert Michels, MD
- 2011 - Arietta Slade, PhD
- 2010 - Salman Akthar, MD
- 2009 - Peter Fonagy, PhD, FBA
- 2008 - Glen O. Gabbard, MD
- 2007 - Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP
- 2006 - Otto F. Kernberg, MD
About Robert S. Wallerstein, MD
Robert S. Wallerstein, MD
Robert S. Wallerstein, MD, (1921—2014) was a distinguished psychiatrist, psychotherapy researcher, and psychoanalytic leader who left a legacy of a widened scope of theory and technique in the psychological sectors of psychiatry. He was an administrator who advocated for cooperation between psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers in achieving academic excellence and sought to develop a new profession, the Doctor of Mental Health. He also developed a departmental structure that worked across professional lines, leading to new ideas on research centers, educational plans, and high quality service delivery.
Dr. Wallerstein trained at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, rising to become the foundation’s director of research and conducting a pioneering study called the Psychotherapy Research Project. He moved to the Bay Area in 1966 as the chief of psychiatry at Mount Zion Hospital, then joined the faculty of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry as a professor. Dr. Wallerstein served as department chair and director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute from 1975-1985, as well as a training and supervising analyst at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, and president of both the American and International Psychoanalytic Associations.
In addition, he was a prodigious and influential author who penned 20 books and more than 400 scholarly articles. His books included Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: Theory, Practice, Research (1975), Becoming a Psychoanalyst (1981), Forty-Two Lives in Treatment (1986), The Talking Cures: The Psychoanalyses and the Psychotherapies (1995), Lay Analysis: Life Inside the Controversy (1998), Psychoanalysis: Clinical and Theoretical (1999), and Psychoanalysis: Education, Research, Science, and Profession (2003). In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of psychoanalysis, he received the prestigious Sigourney Award in 1991.
Dr. Wallerstein was a leader by consensus. With a remarkable ability of synthesis, he strived to bring together diverse schools of theory and treatment technique. He will be remembered as a dynamic and tireless leader who contributed extensively to every organization that he led.
Lectureship committee
- Joseph Zamaria, PsyD, ABPP, chair
- Kathryn DeWitt, PhD
- Amy Wallerstein Friedman, LCSW
- Adam Goldyne, MD
- Mary Susan Hansen, MD
- Mardi Horowitz, MD
- Marc Jacobs, MD
- George Silberschatz, PhD
- Katherine Straznickas, PhD
- William Wolfe, MD
Learning objectives
TBA
ACCME accreditation statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA credit designation statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.
