President

As President of the Beck Institute, Judith S. Beck, PhD, provides the vision and leadership to further our mission: to improve lives worldwide through excellence in Cognitive Behavior Therapy. She is also Clinical Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania where she teaches second and third year psychiatric residents. She received her doctoral degree from Penn in 1982.

Awards

Judith S. Beck, PhD is the recipient of many awards, including:

  • Earl Bond Award for Distinguished Teaching of Medical Students and Residents University of Pennsylvania Health System, Department of Psychiatry
  • Award for Significant and Enduring Contributions to Cognitive Behavior Therapy Academy of Cognitive Therapy
  • Outstanding Contribution by an Individual for Clinical Activities Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
  • Distinguished Workshop Presenter Award American Psychological Association
  • Presidential Citation Texas Psychological Association
  • Health Disparities Award National Nursing Centers Consortium
  • Distinguished Contributions to the Science and Profession of Psychology Pennsylvania Psychological Association
  • Excellence in Cognitive Therapy Award Assumption College, Institute for Cognitive Studies
  • Psychiatric Residents Faculty Teaching Award University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychiatry

Dr. Judith Beck was a Rachel Gundry Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr. Beck directs the three major functions of Beck Institute:

  • Professional education and training in cognitive therapy
  • Clinical care
  • Outreach

Professional activities

Dr. Beck divides her time among administration, supervision and teaching, clinical work, program development, research, writing, and course development. She has been a consultant for several National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) studies, has developed widely-adopted assessment scales for children and adolescents, and has made hundreds of presentations nationally and internationally on various applications of cognitive therapy. She is also a distinguished founding fellow and past president of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Publications

Dr. Beck has written over 100 articles and chapters on different aspects of cognitive therapy. She is the author of the primary text in the field, Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond (2nd ed.), which has been translated into 20 languages, as well as books, workbooks, and pamphlets for consumers. Her other publications include:

  • Cognitive Therapy for Challenging Problems: What to Do When the Basics Don’t Work
  • The Oxford Textbook of Psychotherapy
  • Cognitive Therapy of Personality Disorders
  • The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person
  • The Beck Diet Solution Weight Loss Workbook
  • The Complete Beck Diet for Life
  • The Diet Trap Solution

Online Courses

Dr. Beck continues to create online CBT courses for therapists, educating clinicians around the world on the essentials of CBT, CBT for depression, anxiety, and personality disorders. To date, her courses have been taken in 112 countries. She is currently working on several additional courses.