John Walkup, MD, Kicks Off Two-Year Leadership Role as President at AACAP

Dr. John Walkup, the 37th President of AACAP, will focus on innovation and collaboration. Dr. Walkup advocates for a much stronger public health approach to behavioral health care for children and adolescents. The major psychiatric disorders that affect children and adolescents clearly benefit from the evidence-based treatment approaches. Yet for many children, who are otherwise well, mental health challenges are more powerfully addressed in the family and community context using a population health approach.  His vision for a broad approach to address the current mental health challenge began after participating in treatment studies of depression and suicidal behavior, anxiety disorders and bipolar disorders. However, Dr. Walkup credits his work with indigenous communities and his current projects in Chicago the force behind his vision for a public health approach to mental health. “Understanding and accepting that we are facing a mental health crisis and that there are just not enough of us to do the things necessary to change the landscape for children’s mental health in America, convinced me that we must broaden our lane and develop a solid population mental health approach”. 

The Dr. Walkup’s theme at AACAP for the next two years is Working together: Innovating for an Impact.

Working together to empower youth and their families, partnering with pediatrics, schools, community organizations and government to scale solutions will require extreme focus and discipline, said Dr. Walkup. 

Encouraging innovation through multiple pathways beyond traditional NIH research and advancing population-based approaches while advocating for parity, fair reimbursement and supportive policies are challenges that we also need to address added Dr. Walkup. 

Watch Dr. Walkup's Video