Robert S. Wallerstein Lecture in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Each year, the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences invites a distinguished scholar to speak on campus as part of the Robert S. Wallerstein Visiting Lectureship in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. This lecture series is held in honor of the late Robert S. Wallerstein, MD, and focuses on showcasing psychoanalytic knowledge and clinical expertise that influence psychiatry, psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis.

UPDATE: 2026 Wallerstein Lecture has been canceled

The UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences regrets to announce that the 20th Robert S. Wallerstein Lecture in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 2026, has been canceled due to circumstances beyond our control.
 

Previous lectureship honorees

About Robert S. Wallerstein, MD

Robert S. Wallerstein, MD

Robert S. Wallerstein, MD

Robert S. Wallerstein, MD, (1921—2014) was a distinguished psychiatrist, psychotherapy researcher, and psychoanalytic leader who left a legacy of a widened scope of theory and technique in the psychological sectors of psychiatry. He was an administrator who advocated for cooperation between psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers in achieving academic excellence and sought to develop a new profession, the Doctor of Mental Health. He also developed a departmental structure that worked across professional lines, leading to new ideas on research centers, educational plans, and high quality service delivery.

Dr. Wallerstein trained at the Menninger Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, rising to become the foundation’s director of research and conducting a pioneering study called the Psychotherapy Research Project. He moved to the Bay Area in 1966 as the chief of psychiatry at Mount Zion Hospital, then joined the faculty of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry as a professor. Dr. Wallerstein served as department chair and director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute from 1975-1985, as well as a training and supervising analyst at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute, and president of both the American and International Psychoanalytic Associations.

In addition, he was a prodigious and influential author who penned 20 books and more than 400 scholarly articles. His books included Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis: Theory, Practice, Research (1975), Becoming a Psychoanalyst (1981), Forty-Two Lives in Treatment (1986), The Talking Cures: The Psychoanalyses and the Psychotherapies (1995), Lay Analysis: Life Inside the Controversy (1998), Psychoanalysis: Clinical and Theoretical (1999), and Psychoanalysis: Education, Research, Science, and Profession (2003). In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of psychoanalysis, he received the prestigious Sigourney Award in 1991.

Dr. Wallerstein was a leader by consensus. With a remarkable ability of synthesis, he strived to bring together diverse schools of theory and treatment technique. He will be remembered as a dynamic and tireless leader who contributed extensively to every organization that he led.

Lectureship committee

  • Joseph Zamaria, PsyD, ABPP, chair
  • Kathryn DeWitt, PhD
  • Amy Wallerstein Friedman, LCSW
  • Adam Goldyne, MD
  • Mary Susan Hansen, MD
  • Mardi Horowitz, MD
  • Marc Jacobs, MD
  • George Silberschatz, PhD
  • Katherine Straznickas, PhD
  • William Wolfe, MD
     

 

ACCME accreditation statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

AMA credit designation statement
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this live activity for a maximum of 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure statement
The APsA CE Committee has reviewed the materials for accredited continuing education and has determined that this activity is not related to the product line of ineligible companies and therefore, the activity meets the exception outlined in Standard 3: ACCME's identification, mitigation and disclosure of relevant financial relationship. This activity does not have any known commercial support.