Deborah Snyder received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Duke University and her Master’s Degree in Social Work, Phi Kappa Phi, from the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Community Planning. She received additional post-graduate training at the Family Therapy Practice Center under the tutelage of Marianne Walters in Washington, D.C.
Ms. Snyder began her career at the George Washington University Medical Center’s newly opened Cancer Center in 1990 where she was charged with creating and implementing an outpatient psycho-oncology program. In 1992, she joined the NIH Clinical Center’s Social Work Department where she worked for over a decade as a clinician and educator. Ms. Snyder currently holds the position of Special Assistant to the NIMH Clinical Director where she participates as faculty on the Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Service evaluating and treating patients with co-morbid medical and psychiatric diagnoses.
She conducts educational outreach initiatives at the interface of mental health and medical illness; works on NIMH Clinical Fellowship, Residency, and other training initiatives; acts as NIMH OCD liaison on patient safety and quality initiatives; and conducts research including in risk of suicide screening and implementation. She has received several awards including most recently the NIMH Directors Award (April 2017) for Significant Achievement for developing the Distressed Trainee Toolkit and the NIH 2017 CC Director’s Award for suicide risk screening implementation.