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Lewis Judd 1930–2018: Long Time UCSD Chair, NIMH Director, and Brain Science Leader

Lewis Judd, M.D., who held the position of Chair of the Department of Psychiatry in the UC San Diego School of Medicine for 36 years before stepping down in 2013—an astounding 70 percent of the UCSD’s existence at the time—died December 16, 2018 at his longtime hometown of La Jolla, California. He was 88.

Born in Los Angeles, Judd received his medical degree and training in adult and child psychiatry at UCLA. He served on the faculty at UCLA until 1970 when he was recruited by Arnold J. Mandell to the then-one-year-old Department of Psychiatry and two-year-old UC San Diego School of Medicine. Judd would succeed Mandell as Department Chair in 1977.

Judd was an expert in biological psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology—and a forceful advocate for pushing psychiatry to its present as a data-driven, hard-charging neuroscience-based scientifically robust field. He was an early and vocal leader of the idea that mental disorders, such as depression, were the result of neurological and biological dysfunction, and argued that they could be effectively treated with appropriate psychopharmaceuticals. He was an avid advocate for rigorous clinical training.

At the age of 57, Judd was named Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (1987–1990). During this time, Judd developed and launched multiple initiatives, including the National Plans for Research into Schizophrenia and the momentous Decade of the Brain Research Plan. “This appreciation for the science of the human brain and mind exploded under his NIH leadership in the late 80s when he launched “The Decade of the Brain,” said Sandra A. Brown, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Research and Distinguished Professor at UCSD.

“The thing I’m most proud of is how psychiatry is becoming increasingly recognized as a real biomedical science,” Judd said in 2013. “It used to be disdained. A broken mind wasn’t as real as a broken bone. We lionized physical medicine, but dismissed brain biology, which has an enormous effect upon not just our behavior, but our bodies as well.”

Judd authored more than 200 scientific publications, edited nine books and monographs and as a member of the National Academy of Medicine has received many honors and prizes from scientific and patient advocacy groups, and was an ACNP Fellow Emeritus.

Judd was a Renaissance man: a runner, tennis player, avid reader of fiction and history, football devotee (San Diego Chargers), lover of good food and wine, patron of the arts, loyal friend, devoted husband, father, and grandfather.

He is survived by his wife, Patricia Judd, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD; daughters Stephanie Judd, Catherine Judd, and Allison Fee and their partners and grandchildren.

Memorial contributions can be made to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in his honor, or to the Judd Recognition Fund at UC San Diego to continue his legacy.