Renee Garfinkel Ph.D.

Renee Garfinkel, Ph.D., is a Jerusalem-based psychologist, Middle East television commentator, and host of the Van Leer Series on Ideas. She earned her Ph.D. at Lund University, Sweden. Garfinkel specialized in gerontology through 1991 when, during the first Gulf War, she studied the effects of Scud missile attacks on the elderly and became involved in disaster mental health, working with first responders to natural and man-made disasters, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon. She authored several Special Reports for the United States Institute of Peace, including “Personal Transformations: Moving From Violence To Peace," which examined religious extremists who have become peacemakers.

Among her academic accomplishments is the founding and editing of a peer-reviewed journal, Adoption Quarterly (Haworth Press). Garfinkel has had clinical and academic affiliations with several universities, including the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management at the George Washington University, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

She is available for electronic consultation.