Revered Child Psychiatrist Dies

Pioneering child psychiatrist and former APA deputy medical director Henry Work, M.D., died March 21 at age 95. Work lived in Bethesda, Md.

Work, who began his medical career as a pediatrician, was one of the first psychiatrists who made a point of including families in the treatment of children with mental disorders. His first medical teaching post was at the University of Louisville, which he left to become the first professor of child psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and eventually director of its child psychiatry program.

In 1972, after 17 years at UCLA, he came to APA where he established and headed its Office of Professional Affairs. He held that post for the next dozen years.

“He was a remarkable teacher, learning and questioning, giving and demanding, inspiring through demonstration as well as exhortation,” commented APA President-elect Carolyn Robinowitz, M.D. Work continued to teach into his 90s, and his legacy is apparent, she added, in the multiple generations of students and physicians “who have benefitted from his teaching and mentoring, and through their work in caring for and teaching the generations to come.” ▪