Vivian Pender

Vivian B. Pender, MD, DLFAPA is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College and Training Psychoanalyst at Columbia University. She is the President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association. At the United Nations she represents the International Psychoanalytical Association and the American Psychiatric Association where she chaired the NGO Committee on the Status of Women and the NGO Committee on Mental Health, coalitions of non-government organizations in consultative status with the UN. As a UN Consultant Psychiatrist she was instrumental in the establishment of UN Women. She is a volunteer Asylum Evaluator for Physicians for Human Rights. In 2015, she founded Healthcare Against Trafficking, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting education and advocacy. To this end she has presented Grand Rounds and symposia on the prevention of child abuse and trafficking. She is a co-investigator on a Weill Cornell Department of Internal Medicine Grant. She produced four documentaries of conferences at the United Nations on mental health, human rights, human trafficking and violence. Dr. Pender has awards for her excellence teaching medical students, residents and fellows. Her 2016 book is The Status of Women: Violence, Identity and Activism.