LEGACY BUILDING
IN SOCIAL WORK:

John Battaglia, MD, is Clinical Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and is Medical Director of the Program of Assertive Community Treatment in Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating magna cum laude with a BA in Psychology from Pomona College in Claremont, California, in 1980, he earned his MD with honors from Ohio State University in Columbus in 1984. Dr. Battaglia went on to serve an internship and residency in Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He then completed fellowships with the Mood Disorders Program in the Mental Health Clinical Research Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and in Emergency Psychiatry at Parkland Memorial Hospital, both in Dallas. Dr. Battaglia has authored or coauthored numerous articles from his research on psychopharmacology (mood disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders), agitation, multiple suicide attempters, ethics in rural health care, and seasonal mood disorder. He has lectured both nationally and abroad on a variety of topics including crisis intervention, treatment of agitation, and supportive psychotherapy. He has been the recipient of a number of honors, including two Exemplary Psychiatrist Awards from NAMI, and Outstanding Lecturer and Excellence in Teaching awards from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin. For the past 30 years he has taught supportive psychotherapy and crisis intervention techniques for various agencies including Southwestern Medical School Department of Psychiatry (Dallas, TX), Alaska State Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (Community Mental Health Centers-statewide, AK), Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI), Milwaukee Public Schools Psychology Division (Milwaukee, WI) and the University of Wisconsin Department of Psychiatry (Madison, WI). His book: Doing Supportive Psychotherapy, was recently published by American Psychiatric Association Publishing (2020). He served on the NAMI Wisconsin (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Board of Directors from 2011 to 2019.