Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. - Biography

Anne Speckhard, Ph.D. is Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Medical School & Professor of Psychology at Vesalius College, Free University of Brussels (Belgium). Dr. Speckhard has been active as a clinical and research specialist in the field of posttraumatic stress disorders over the past twenty years and is currently working both in Europe and the former Soviet Union regarding acute and posttraumatic stress responses to terrorism and disaster.

Her research projects include studying the psycho-social and political aspects of suicide terrorism in Chechnya, the Palestinian territories, Morocco, and Uzbekistan; studying the Muslim radicalization process in Belgium and Holland; recording Holocaust oral histories in the former Soviet Union and examining long-term psychological responses of survivors to experiences of war and genocide; examining women's reproductive health issues including traumatic responses to pregnancy termination (in Europe, the U.S. and former Soviet Union); and working with victims of disaster and terrorism, including studies of psychological and acute stress responses in situations of hostage-taking and toxic contamination. Dr. Speckhard also worked with Americans following the September 11th terrorism attacks, debriefed hostages of the Chechen terrorism attack on the Moscow theater in 2002, and is researching abortion clinic terrorism in the United States.

Formerly she served as a Public Health Service Fellow in the United Stated Department of Health and Human Services Offices of Family Planning and Adolescent Pregnancy Programs. As a trauma psychologist and forensic expert witness, Dr. Speckhard has frequently been called to give testimony in many diverse court settings, including to the U.S. Congress. She is the author of the book, Psychosocial Responses to Abortion, as well as many chapters, scientific papers and presentations on topics pertaining to psychological trauma.

Dr. Speckhard currently lives in Brussels, Belgium and but works internationally, and her home base is in the United States, in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. metro area.

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