Caroline M. Sehon, MD, FRCP(C), FABP
A Passionate Leader

APsA stands at a critical juncture

The logo for the american psychoanalytic association

Throughout my career, I have moved between clinical practice, organizational leadership, and community engagement — each strengthening the other.   As a child and adult psychiatrist and supervising child and adult analyst, I carry a developmental perspective into my work with patients and trainees. In APsA, as Secretary and Executive Committee Director, I have helped guide our Association through times of challenge and change.  As director of a 336-member institute that regularly reaches more than 55,000 colleagues worldwide through its global listserv, I have fostered growth and built pathways for emerging leaders.  Through my academic appointments and editorial work, I have advanced scholarship, while internationally, I have led community-based and humanitarian projects recognized by the IPA.

These intersecting experiences equip me to bridge tradition and innovation, clinical practice and social context, local institutes and global networks — the kind of leadership APsA needs.

If Elected,  My Priorities Will Be

Group of professionals with hands stacked in a circle, smiling, indoors.

Drive Innovation & Intergenerational Renewal

Breathtaking colors of our planet
Learn More
Hands of diverse people joined together in a team huddle.

Preserve & Grow Membership

Portraits of people from around the globe
Learn More
Caroline Sehon is a panel member during a forum which helped reduce division where colleagues engage across differences with respect and depth

Foster Constructive Dialogue

Stark beauty of desolate dunes
Learn More
Caroline introducing a guest speaker at an IPI hybrid conference.

Integrate Technology with Core Psychoanalytic Values

Visual odyssey across continents
Learn More
Dr. Sehon engaging with other people online during one of her Ukraine community projects

More  About Caroline

Physician-psychoanalyst and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine with over three decades of clinical experience, I work with children and adults online and in my Bethesda, Maryland office. 


I am passionate about psychoanalytic leadership and community outreach, including the application of psychoanalytic principles to projects like the International Town Hall Project relating to wartime atrocities in Ukraine and the Safe Harbor Project: Building Bridges of Understanding to support frontline responders in Ukraine.


I currently serve as the Executive Director of the International Psychotherapy Institute, Secretary at the American Psychoanalytic Association (APsA), and Chair of APsA's Psychoanalysis in the Community Committee.


Discover more about me by exploring my practice website.


Introducing My Candidacy for APsA President-Elect


Join Caroline

for one or more of her six virtual gatherings on select Wednsedays  

LEARN MORE

  • Leadership Roles in APsA:

    Two figures inside circles, hands holding gear, light green.

     SELECTED ACTIVITIES IN APsA (9 current leadership roles):  

    • Secretary (2024–Present) - Secretary, Executive Committee and Board of Directors;  Liaison between Executive Committee and Program Committee; Secretary, Institute Requirements and Review Committee; Secretary, Membership Requirements and Review Committee 
    • Chair, Psychoanalysis in the Community Committee (2022–Present) 
    • Member, Social Issues Department (2022–Present) 
    • Leadership Team Member, American Psychoanalytic Association Pilot Initiative – Expanding Membership (2025–Present) 
    • Member, Council Artificial Intelligence Institute/Center Working Group (2025–Present) 
    • Member, Meetings Department Council (2025–Present) 
    • Executive Committee Director (2022–2024) 
    • Board Member (2021–Present) 
    • Co-Chair, Discussion Group “Enriching Adult Analytic Work by Child Analytic Training and Practice” (2014–Present)

  • Professional Practice & Academic Appointments

    • Supervising Child/Adult Psychoanalyst
    • Child/Adult Psychiatrist
    • Community Med. Spec. 
    • Executive Director, IPI (2019-Present)
    • Clinical Professor of Psychoanlysis (2019-Present), Georgetown University School of Medicine
    • Assistant Professor of Psychoanalysis, Uniformed Services University of the Health Science. (2001-Present)

  • Selected Activities in International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI):

    Two people, a man and woman, in conversation with speech bubbles.
    • Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis IPA Committee, IPA (2017-2021)
    • President, Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Society of Greater Washington (2009-2010)
    • Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program, Georgetown University Medical Center (2003-2008)

  • Selected Activities in Other Professional Organizations:

    • President, Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Society of Greater Washington (2009–10)
    • Director, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Program, Georgetown University Medical Center (2003–08)

  • Honors & Awards:

    A presenter with a screen in the background and three attendees below.
    • IPA in the Community and the World Awards, Psychoanalytic Assistance in Emergencies and Crises, 2nd prize (2025)
    • Awarded grants from the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Committee (APF), for the following initiatives: 2024 - The International Town Hall project received $3,000 through the International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI) 2025 - The Safe Harbor Project received $5,000 through International Psychotherapy Institute (IPI).  Funding for both initiatives has been provided by the American Psychoanalytic Foundation through the American Psychoanalytic Association
    • Distingushed Fellow, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psych. (2013-Present)
    • Distinguished Fellow, American Psych. Association (2012-Present)
    • Fellow, American Board of Psychoanalysis
      •

Colleague Endorsements

It is a privilege to engage with remarkable psychoanalysts worldwide who share our passion for this discipline.  Here are a few testimonials from some colleagues who endorse my candidacy.

Caroline is Awesome. In addition to being a highly regarded analyst and supervisor, she has held top positions for over 10 years at her analytic institutes: currently as Director of IPI (International Psychotherapy Institute) and previously as Chair of IIPT (International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training).


Linda Hopkins, PhD,

IPI National Faculty Member, Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst and Author

Otto Kernberg, MD

I am pleased to offer my strong support for Caroline Sehon as a candidate for President-Elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

I have known Dr. Sehon over many years through professional collaboration and shared work in international psychoanalytic education. I regard her as a thoughtful, discerning, and inclusive leader, capable of tolerating complexity and difference while maintaining clarity about institutional priorities. I believe she is particularly well suited to help guide APsA through its current transitions in a way that supports continuity, renewal, and clinical seriousness.


Otto F. Kernberg,M.D.

Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training & Research

It gives me pleasure to endorse Caroline Sehon for President of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is an excellent analyst, an experienced and innovative administrator and a leader who has demonstrated a talent for bringing people of varying backgrounds perspectives and allegiances together to form a consensus that can lead to effective action.


Theodore J. Jacobs, MD

Psychiatrist and Psychoanalyst

Recipient of the Sigourney Award for Lifetime Achievement

Caroline is a proven leader, responds quickly and effectively in crisis, and has demonstrated the capacity in this campaign to listen carefully, consider specific and general dimensions of situations, and bring to bear knowledge from all levels in her thoughtful responsiveness. These are invaluable leadership capacities, critical to APSA's needs going forward. 


Kerry Kelly Novick, FIPA and Jack Novick, MD

I wholeheartedly recommend and endorse Caroline for the APsA President-Elect. Having worked with her closely for the past 6 years, I can attest to her competence, intelligence, dedication, and her character. I would like to ask all of you voting clinical members of APsA, both psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, to cast your vote for Caroline at the time the polls open. Her vision and her commitment to excellence will undoubtedly serve APsA with distinction.


-Rich Zeitner, Ph.D., FABP, ABPP

Board Chair, International Psychotherapy Institute,

Board Member, American Board of Psychoanalysis

I am writing with great pleasure to say that I am voting for Caroline Sehon in this election. After following the discussions on this election listserv, ...


Lance Dodes, M.D.

President, Psychoanalysis Now

Training and Supervising Analyst, Emeritus Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute

Asst. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (retired) Harvard Medical School

Faculty, New Center for Psychoanalysis Los Angeles, CA

I echo Cindy Lucas in her enthusiastic support of Dr. Caroline Sehon's candidacy for APsA President Elect. In recent interactions with Dr Sehon by email and Zoom conversations I have found her genuine support for an inclusive APsA, poised to adapt to our expanded membership to be deep and far ranging.


Carol Reichenthal, PhD

Past Co-Chair APsA Psychotherapy Department

Past Chair Psychotherapist Associates Committee and Psychotherapist Committee (current Emerita consulting status)

Over the course of my many years of leadership experience, Caroline is one of the most outstanding leaders I have known. I believe she has the qualities and experience to serve with distinction as president-elect in any organization, including APsA, which plays such a vital role in our profession.


- Stephen B. Morris, PhD

Former President, Utah Psychological Association

IPI Board member, 2023-2024

Chair, IPI Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Pgm & Co-chair, IPI Strategic Planning Committee

Caroline is Awesome. In addition to being a highly regarded analyst and supervisor, she has held top positions for over 10 years at her analytic institutes: currently as Director of IPI (International Psychotherapy Institute) and previously as Chair of IIPT (International Institute for Psychoanalytic Training).


Linda Hopkins, PhD,

IPI National Faculty Member, Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst and Author

I am pleased to offer my strong support for Caroline Sehon as a candidate for President-Elect of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

I have known Dr. Sehon over many years through professional collaboration and shared work in international psychoanalytic education. I regard her as a thoughtful, discerning, and inclusive leader, capable of tolerating complexity and difference while maintaining clarity about institutional priorities. I believe she is particularly well suited to help guide APsA through its current transitions in a way that supports continuity, renewal, and clinical seriousness.


Otto F. Kernberg,M.D.

Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training & Research

"This is paragraph text. Click it or hit the Manage Text button to change the font, color, size, format, and more. To set up site-wide paragraph and title styles, go to Site Theme".   - Jane Doe

"This is paragraph text. Click it or hit the Manage Text button to change the font, color, size, format, and more. To set up site-wide paragraph and title styles, go to Site Theme".   - Jane Doe

"This is paragraph text. Click it or hit the Manage Text button to change the font, color, size, format, and more. To set up site-wide paragraph and title styles, go to Site Theme".   - Jane Doe

New Leadership. Your Voice. Our Future.

I am committed to guiding APsA with leadership that renews our Association through innovation, strengthens membership through inclusivity, fosters dialogue across differences, guides technology with our core values, and bridges psychoanalysis with the social contexts in which we live.


Together, we can build an APsA that is renewed, united, relevant, and thriving. 
I welcome your ideas and your partnership in shaping this future.

apsa-electiondiscussion@connectedcommunity.org or Caroline@VoteSehon.org. 
Learn more about my practice and leadership experience, please visit CarolineSehonMD.org.