At the 2016 Center for Adlerian Practice and Scholarship Open House, alumnus Len Sperry, M.D., Ph.D., was presented with the Outstanding Alumnus Lifetime Adlerian Achievement Award.
Len Sperry, M.D., Ph.D., is currently Professor of Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Director of Clinical Training at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. He is also Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Licensed as both a physician and a psychologist, Sperry is board certified in Psychiatry, General Preventive Medicine, and in Clinical Psychology. He completed an internship and post-doctoral internship in psychology, residencies in psychiatry and preventive medicine, and a fellowship in behavioral medicine. He also completed the Certificate in Psychotherapy from the Adler Institute—Chicago. He is recognized as a pioneer in psychotherapy outcome research and as one of the originators of spiritually-oriented psychotherapy.
Sperry’s past professional life has involved holding full-time faculty appointments in Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Family and Community Medicine. He served as Vice Chair and was a tenured Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and was a recipient of the teacher of the year award from that department.
He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a Fellow of the Academy of Clinical Psychology. In addition, he has been elected to membership in such prestigious professional organizations as the American College of Psychiatrists, the American Family Therapy Academy, and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.
Sperry has served and continues to serve on several committees of professional medical organizations and is currently on the editorial board of ten professional journals. In terms of professional recognition and awards, he has been listed in Who’s Who in America, America’s Top Physicians, and in Best Doctors in America continually since 1996. He has also been awarded six lifetime achievement awards.
His 1000+ professional publications include refereed journal articles and book chapters, and 70 professional books on various topics including How Master Therapists Work, Treatment Outcomes in Psychotherapy and Psychiatric Interventions. Health Promotion and Health Counseling (two editions), Psychological Treatment of Chronic Illness, and Treating Chronic Medical Conditions: Cognitive Behavioral Strategies and Integrative Protocols. He also edited a special issue of Psychiatric Annals on clinical outcomes assessment.