American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit professional association in the United States dedicated to facilitating psychiatric care for children and adolescents.^[1] The Academy is headquartered in Washington, D.C.^[2][3] Various levels of membership are available to physicians specialized in child psychiatry or pediatrics, as well as medical students interested in the field, in the United States and abroad.^[4]

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Formation	1953
Type	professional association
Headquarters	3615 Wisconsin Ave., NW Washington, D.C., U.S.
Location	United States
Membership	Over 10,000
Official language	English
2023–present President	Tami D. Benton, MD
Executive Director/CEO	Heidi B. Fordi, CAE
Website	aacap.org

Established in 1953 as the American Academy of Child Psychiatry (AACP),^[5] it became the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) in 1989.^[5] The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's mission is to promote the healthy development of children, adolescents, and families through advocacy, education, and research.

Publications

Since 1962, the AACAP has published its monthly journal, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

Controversy

There have been concerns about industry-sponsored clinical trials published in the journal. JAACAP editors have repeatedly declined to retract the journal's 2001 article on study 329, a clinical trial examining paroxetine and teenagers. The trial was sponsored by, and ghostwritten on behalf of, SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline), and is widely regarded as having downplayed the trial's negative results.^[6][7]