portrait by Kate Schermerhorn
Peter C. Whybrow, M.D. is Director Emeritus of the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Judson Braun Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine.
Born in England, Dr. Whybrow is a graduate of University College, London and of the University College Hospital Medical School. He recieved his training in endocrinology and psychiatry in London and North Carolina and was a member of the scientific staff of the British Medical Research Council before migrating to America in the 1970s to join the faculty of Dartmouth Medical School where he served as Chair of Psychiatry and later as Executive Dean. In 1984 he was appointed the Ruth Meltzer Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Between 1997 and 2020 Dr. Whybrow served as Executive Chair of Psychiatry, Director of the Semel Institite for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and CEO of the Resnick Hospital at UCLA.
Peter Whybrow is an international authority on emotion and its disorders, including the treatment of depression and bipolar illness and the effects of thyroid hormone on brain and human behavior. He is a founding member and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. A frequent adviser to universities, foundations, and government agencies, Dr. Whybrow has been a Fellow at the Center For Advanced Study at Stanford, and a Visiting Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. He is the recipient of many awards, has lectured widely across the United States and Europe, and is the author of numerous scientific papers and six books, including A Mood Apart; The Thinker’s Guide to Emotion and its Disorder, which is widely acclaimed as the definitive guide to the experience and science of mood and its disorder, written expressly for the general public.
In further writings for a general audience, drawing upon his personal experience as a migrant, but also in reflection of his fascination with America as the practical experiment of 18th Century Enlightenment philosophy, Whybrow has explored the nation's history as one shaped predominantly by successive waves of multicultural migration. Thus the prize-winning, American Mania: When More is Not Enough, investigates how the optimistic, reward-seeking, risk-taking temperament of the migrant, aligned with Enlightenment concepts of individual freedom, have shaped the America's preoccupation with individual rights, self-interest and market competition. This self-styled "exceptionalism" has fueled extraordinary material achievement and global hegemony, but has also fostered a damaging racial, economic and social inequality that threatens America's cultural cohesion. Whybrow's latest book, The Well-Tuned Brain: Neuroscience and the Life Well-Lived, investigates this growing cultural mismatch, its roots and its dangers, by asking two fundamental questions, "Who do you think you are?" and "How to live?" The first - focusing upon the American temperament - harnesses valuable insights from the brain sciences. However, in today's frenzied, profit-driven, interconnected world, neuroscience alone falls short when seeking a prescription for lives well-lived. In remedy, Whybrow offers a fascinating guide to self-discovery. In a series of focused essays, illuminated by compelling personal stories and time-honored philosophical truths, he highlights how trusting childhood attachment and educational opportunity provide the essential bedrock of a brain well-tuned. He concludes that with renewed moral commitment -- to these tenets, to an equitable social order, and to an economic model that transcends short-term profit and rejects environmental degradation -- America's time-honored Declaration to individual freedom, personal thriving and to the common good will be secure.
Dr Whybrow's provocative books have been translated and published widely in an array of languages, including German, Polish, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, Persian, Russian, and Chinese. In 2005, for his book American Mania, Dr. Whybrow was awarded the Ken National Book Award by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Gradiva Award in 2006 by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. His media appearances include C-Span, LA Live, the Charlie Rose Show, Tavis Smiley, PopTech, Good Morning America and many others. (See the media page for a more complete list.)
Other co-authored and edited books by Dr Whybrow include: Psychosomatic Medicine: Current Trends and Clinical Applications. 1977. Mood Disorders: Toward a New Psychobiology. 1984. Designing and Implementing an Alcohol Curriculum for Medical Education. 1986. The Hibernation Response. 1989. Nude Naked: Collected Poems of Nancy Main. 2017
Born in England, Dr. Whybrow is a graduate of University College, London and of the University College Hospital Medical School. He recieved his training in endocrinology and psychiatry in London and North Carolina and was a member of the scientific staff of the British Medical Research Council before migrating to America in the 1970s to join the faculty of Dartmouth Medical School where he served as Chair of Psychiatry and later as Executive Dean. In 1984 he was appointed the Ruth Meltzer Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Between 1997 and 2020 Dr. Whybrow served as Executive Chair of Psychiatry, Director of the Semel Institite for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and CEO of the Resnick Hospital at UCLA.
Peter Whybrow is an international authority on emotion and its disorders, including the treatment of depression and bipolar illness and the effects of thyroid hormone on brain and human behavior. He is a founding member and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. A frequent adviser to universities, foundations, and government agencies, Dr. Whybrow has been a Fellow at the Center For Advanced Study at Stanford, and a Visiting Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford. He is the recipient of many awards, has lectured widely across the United States and Europe, and is the author of numerous scientific papers and six books, including A Mood Apart; The Thinker’s Guide to Emotion and its Disorder, which is widely acclaimed as the definitive guide to the experience and science of mood and its disorder, written expressly for the general public.
In further writings for a general audience, drawing upon his personal experience as a migrant, but also in reflection of his fascination with America as the practical experiment of 18th Century Enlightenment philosophy, Whybrow has explored the nation's history as one shaped predominantly by successive waves of multicultural migration. Thus the prize-winning, American Mania: When More is Not Enough, investigates how the optimistic, reward-seeking, risk-taking temperament of the migrant, aligned with Enlightenment concepts of individual freedom, have shaped the America's preoccupation with individual rights, self-interest and market competition. This self-styled "exceptionalism" has fueled extraordinary material achievement and global hegemony, but has also fostered a damaging racial, economic and social inequality that threatens America's cultural cohesion. Whybrow's latest book, The Well-Tuned Brain: Neuroscience and the Life Well-Lived, investigates this growing cultural mismatch, its roots and its dangers, by asking two fundamental questions, "Who do you think you are?" and "How to live?" The first - focusing upon the American temperament - harnesses valuable insights from the brain sciences. However, in today's frenzied, profit-driven, interconnected world, neuroscience alone falls short when seeking a prescription for lives well-lived. In remedy, Whybrow offers a fascinating guide to self-discovery. In a series of focused essays, illuminated by compelling personal stories and time-honored philosophical truths, he highlights how trusting childhood attachment and educational opportunity provide the essential bedrock of a brain well-tuned. He concludes that with renewed moral commitment -- to these tenets, to an equitable social order, and to an economic model that transcends short-term profit and rejects environmental degradation -- America's time-honored Declaration to individual freedom, personal thriving and to the common good will be secure.
Dr Whybrow's provocative books have been translated and published widely in an array of languages, including German, Polish, Dutch, Italian, Finnish, Persian, Russian, and Chinese. In 2005, for his book American Mania, Dr. Whybrow was awarded the Ken National Book Award by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Gradiva Award in 2006 by the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. His media appearances include C-Span, LA Live, the Charlie Rose Show, Tavis Smiley, PopTech, Good Morning America and many others. (See the media page for a more complete list.)
Other co-authored and edited books by Dr Whybrow include: Psychosomatic Medicine: Current Trends and Clinical Applications. 1977. Mood Disorders: Toward a New Psychobiology. 1984. Designing and Implementing an Alcohol Curriculum for Medical Education. 1986. The Hibernation Response. 1989. Nude Naked: Collected Poems of Nancy Main. 2017
