Harold Kudler, MD

Psychiatrist, Professor, and Leader in Mental Health

Dr. Kudler received his M.D. from Downstate Medical Center, trained in Psychiatry at Yale and is Associate Consulting Professor at Duke and Adjunct Professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. From 2000 through 2005, he co-chaired the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA’s) Special Committee on PTSD which reports directly to Congress. He has served on the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Board of Directors, co-led development of joint VA/Department of Defense Guidelines for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress and advised Sesame Street’s Talk Listen Connect series for military families.

From 2004 to 2014, he was Associate Director of VA's Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) on Deployment Mental Health. From 2006 to 2014, he co-led the North Carolina Governor’s Focus on Returning Military Members and their Families. In July 2014, he joined VA Central Office in Washington DC as Chief Consultant for Mental Health Services. Starting in May 2017, he served as Acting Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Patient Care Services until his retirement from VA in June 2018.

A Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Kudler plays a leadership role in a number of mental health organizations including the International Center for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma. Dr. Kudler is the current President of the Psychoanalytic Center of the Carolinas and chairs the Service Members and Veterans Initiative of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Military and Veterans Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.