Jonathan Kellerman

Jonathan Kellerman (born August 9, 1949) is an American psychologist, and Edgar and Anthony Award-winning author of numerous bestselling suspense novels. His writings on psychology (and specifically psychopathology) include Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children. Most of his fictional stories feature the character of Alex Delaware, a child psychologist who consults for the police, assisted in his investigations by LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, who is what Kellerman describes as "gay, but so what?" He has also written numerous essays, an art book on vintage guitars entitled With Strings Attached and two children's books that he illustrated. In 2015 he received the APA Award for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.

Kellerman was born in New York City, son of David, an aerospace engineer and inventor, and Sylvia, a dancer and office manager. He attended Yeshiva of Central Queens (YCQ) before his family relocated to California. He grew up in Los Angeles and received a BA in psychology at UCLA in 1971. He worked his way through college as a cartoonist, illustrator, journalist and editor, as well as by teaching guitar. As a college senior, he co-wrote an unpublished novel that garnered a Samuel Goldwyn writing award. That prize has served as a stepping-stone to film writing for other writers, but Kellerman deliberately avoided the world of screenwriting and enrolled in a PhD program in clinical psychology at the University of Southern California. He received his PhD from USC in 1974. His doctoral research was on attribution of blame for childhood psychopathology and he published a scientific paper on that topic, his first, at the age of 22. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine.

Kellerman's externship, internship and post-doctoral fellowship were at the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles/USC School of Medicine, where he became founding director of the Psychosocial Program, Division of Hematology-Oncology. Kellerman's initial position at CHLA was conducting research into the effects of psychological isolation in germ-free "plastic bubble" rooms upon the emotional and intellectual development of children with cancer.

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