David Forbes, PhD

Phoenix Australia, Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health

David Forbes is the Director of Phoenix Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne.

He has over twenty-five years’ experience in the assessment and treatment of mental health problems in trauma survivors, with a speciality in military, veteran, and emergency services mental health.

He led the development of the Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council and is Vice Chair of the International (ISTSS) PTSD Guidelines.

He has a strong track record in the conduct of research across the lifespan the provision of policy and service development advice to government and agencies responsible for the care of those occupationally exposed to trauma and the provision of training in evidence based treatments for PTSD and related disorders.

He has published over 160 scientific papers in the international literature and sits on many Commonwealth government policy and scientific advisory panels and academic journal editorial boards