Christopher R.

Thompson

, MD

Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (Voluntary)
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Education

1994 – University of Virginia; B.A.
1999 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; M.D.
2003 – UCLA; General Psychiatry Residency
2004 – UC Davis, Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship
2006 – UCLA; Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Research & clinical interests

Dr. Thompson has been the Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Division for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) since October 2019. In the eight years prior to assuming his current position, he served as Medical Director for the Juvenile Justice Mental Health Program and Juvenile Court Mental Health Services (JCMHS) of the LACDMH. JCMHS provides mental health consultation to Los Angeles County’s dependency court’s judicial officers and children’s attorneys. Additionally, JCMHS reviews and makes recommendations regarding all psychotropic medication regimens for Los Angeles County dependency and delinquency youth. 

He is actively involved in organized psychiatry and is a Past President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), the Co-Chair of AAPL’s Judicial Action and Government Affairs Committees, Secretary of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), President of the California Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, and is the former Chair of the AAFS’ Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Section.

Roles within the division/Fellowship

Co-Director, Forensic Consultation Rotation
Lectures on topics such as: juvenile justice system/juveniles in the correctional system, adolescent antisocial behavior, juvenile psychopathy, juvenile adjudicative competence, criminal responsibility in juveniles, transfer of juvenile to adult criminal court, the overlap of substance use disorders/ADHD/disruptive behavior disorders, among other topics