One in five children and adolescents will experience a mental health disorder in any given year, and many more struggle with serious mental health challenges. John Weisz’s research involves development and testing of interventions for these disorders and challenges, as well as meta-analyses to characterize and improve the science of youth mental health care. His most recent work involves building and testing, in randomized controlled trials, transdiagnostic approaches to youth psychotherapy that use modular design and empirically supported principles of change. His work integrates evidence-based practices with strategies for personalizing treatment to fit individual youth and family characteristics. His research also includes development and testing of brief digital interventions designed to maximize access by young people, and interventions delivered by lay-providers to adolescents in Africa. Weisz's books include Psychotherapy for children and adolescents: Evidence-based treatments and case examples (Cambridge University Press), Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents (Co-edited with Alan Kazdin; Guilford Press), and Principle-guided psychotherapy for children and adolescents: The FIRST treatment program for behavioral and emotional problem (Co-authored with Sarah Kate Bearman; Guilford Press). Weisz’s awards include the Klaus-Grawe Award for the Advancement of Innovative Research in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, from the Klaus-Grawe Foundation; the Sarah Gund Prize for Research and Mentorship in Child Mental Health, from the Scientific Research Council; and the James McKeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Psychological Science—described by APS as its highest honor—for work that “has had a profound impact on the field of psychological science over the past quarter century.”

Research interests: Mental health intervention effects with children and adolescents, psychotherapy meta-analysis.

Professor Weisz plans to review applications for graduate study in his lab during the 2023-24 application season.