Gerald Koocher

Gerald Koocher earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Boston University in 1968. He completed a master's degree (1970) and Ph.D. (1972) in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri. He worked full-time at Boston's Children's Hospital from 1971 to 2001, ultimately serving as chief of psychology. While at Boston Children's, he was an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. In June 2001 he became a professor and dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Simmons College in Boston.[3] He later served as associate provost at Simmons, while continuing part-time service at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.[4] He began serving as dean of the College of Science and Health at DePaul University on July 1, 2013.[5] In September, 2018 he began serving as Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Quincy College.[6]

Koocher is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected a fellow of thirteen APA divisions. He is the first person to be awarded five specialty diplomas from the American Board of Professional Psychology. In 2006 he became president of the APA.[7] He had previously served on the APA's board of directors as Treasurer of APA for ten years.[3] Koocher is the founder of the journal Ethics & Behavior and served as editor for 26 years.[8] He is a past editor of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology and The Clinical Psychologist.[3]

Beginning in the early 1970s while still a graduate student, Koocher began studying children's understanding of death and loss. He published several papers growing out of his doctoral dissertation research.[9][10]

• Koocher, G. P. & O'Malley, J. E. (1981). The Damocles Syndrome: Psychosocial Consequences of Surviving Childhood Cancer. New York: McGraw Hill.
• Williams. J. & Koocher, G. P. (1999). Medical Crisis Counseling on a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit: Case Examples and Clinical Utility. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 6, 249-258.
• Roberts, M.C., Koocher, G. P., Routh, D. K., & Willis, D. J. (Eds.) (1993). Readings in Pediatric Psychology. New York: Plenum.
• Koocher, G. P. & La Greca, A. M. (Eds.) (2011) Emotional First Aid for Parents: Helping children and adolescents cope with predictable life crises. New York: Oxford University Press.

Koocher has developed an interest in the flip-side of the evidence based practice movement by studying discredited mental health theories, therapies, and assessment tools that have come into popular use. He has trademarked the term "Psychoquackery" and is developing popular press materials for the public. His scholarly work on these topics include:

• Koocher, G. P. (Ed.) (1976). Children’s Rights and the Mental Health Professions. New York: Wiley Interscience.
• Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. C. (2008). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases (third edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
• W. B. Johnson & Koocher, G. P. (Eds.) (2011). Ethical Conundrums, Quandaries and Predicaments n Mental Health Practice: A Casebook from the Files of Experts. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. C. (2016). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases (fourth edition). New York: Oxford University Press.

• Norcross, J. C., Koocher, G. P., & Garofalo, G. P. (2006) Discredited Psychological Treatments and Tests: A Delphi Poll. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37, 515-522. doi: 10.1037/0735-7028.37.5.515
• Norcross, J. C., Koocher, G. P., Fala, N.C., & Wexler, H.K. (2010) What Doesn’t Work? Expert Consensus on Discredited Treatments in the Addictions. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 4, 174-180. DOI: 10.1097/ADM.0b013e3181c5f9db.
• Koocher, G. P., Norcross, J. C., McMann, M., & Stout, A. (2015). Consensus on Discredited Assessment and Treatment Techniques used with Children and Adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 44, 722-729. DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2014.895941
• Koocher, G. P. & Gill, E. (2016). Pet Me, Sniff Me, Squeeze Me: Quack Treatment for Autism. In R. M. Foxx & J. Mulick, J. (Eds.) Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities (2nd Ed.). Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis, pp 347–356.

• Melton, G.B., Koocher, G. P., & Saks, M. J. (Eds.) (1983). Children's Competence to Consent. New York: Plenum.
• Koocher, G. P. (2002). Using the CABLES Model to Assess and Minimize Risk in Research: Control Group Hazards. Ethics & Behavior, 12, 75-86.
• Keith-Spiegel, P. & Koocher, G.P. (2005). The IRB Paradox: Could the Protectors Also Encourage Deceit? Ethics & Behavior, 15, 339-350.
• Keith-Spiegel, P., Koocher, G. P, Tabachnick, B. (2006). What Scientists Want from Their Research Ethics Committees. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1, 67-82.
• Koocher, G. P. & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2010). Opinion: Peers nip misconduct in the bud. Nature, 466, 438-440. doi:10.1038/466438a
• Koocher, G. P. (2012). Colleagues as a Defense Against Bad Science. The Physiologist, 55 (2), 52-56.
• Koocher, G. P. (2014). Research Ethics and Private Harms. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 29 (18) 2367- 3276, DOI: 10.1177/0886260514534986

The Hoffman Report, a 542-page independent review report conducted by former assistant U.S. attorney David H. Hoffman, was issued to the special committee of the American Psychological Association's board of directors relating to ethics guidelines, enhanced interrogation techniques, and torture.[11] The Hoffman report describes how, "Leaders of the American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with officials at the Pentagon and CIA to weaken the association’s ethical guidelines and allow psychologists to take part in coercive interrogation programs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks."[2] The Hoffman report lists Koocher as one of the leading APA officials intimately involved in the coordinated effort to align APA actions with DoD preferences.[12] In a statement on his personal web site Koocher disputed a number of aspects of the report, and asserted that, "We never colluded with government agencies or the military to craft APA policies in order to justify their goals or the illegal 'enhanced interrogation' practices promoted by the administration of President George W. Bush".[13]