Russell A. Barkley

Russell Alan Barkley FAPA (born December 27, 1949) is a retired American clinical neuropsychologist who was a clinical professor of psychiatry at the VCU Medical Center until 2022 and president of Division 12 of the American Psychological Association (APA) and of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. Involved in research since 1973 and a licensed psychologist since 1977, he is an expert on attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and has devoted much of his scientific career to studying ADHD and related fields like childhood defiance. He proposed the renaming of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) to cognitive disengagement syndrome (CDS). Besides his clinical work, he is also an expert in the neuropsychology of executive function and self-regulation. He is board certified in three clinical specialties: clinical neuropsychology, clinical psychology, and clinical child and adolescent psychology.