Shira Maguen

Dr. Shira Maguen is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. She serves as the Mental Health Director of the Post-9/11 Integrated Care Clinic and Staff Psychologist on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team at the San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS), where she is also the Interim Vice Chair. Additionally, she is the San Francisco site co-lead for the VA Women's Practice Based Research Network and Director of the SFVAHCS PTSD MIRECC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

Dr. Maguen completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Georgia State University in 2002, followed by a clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Her research focuses on PTSD, moral injury, and suicide, with particular emphasis on risk and resilience factors in veterans, especially female veterans. She has received numerous grants, including a VA Health Services Research and Development Grant examining the impact of killing in war and moral injury, and is currently conducting a multi-site trial for a novel treatment for veterans who have killed in war. She also leads research on eating disorders in the military population and treatments for PTSD and moral injury.

With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Maguen's work spans PTSD treatment effectiveness, moral injury, veteran suicide prevention, women's health in military contexts, and integrated care models. Her recent research has focused on eating disorders among veterans, moral injury across different professions, and telehealth delivery of evidence-based PTSD treatments. She has been instrumental in developing screening tools for eating disorders in veteran populations and examining gender differences in trauma responses.

• The James Besyner Award for Lifetime Achievement (2023)
• American Psychological Association, Division 18 Outstanding Researcher (2010)
• John Warkentin Memorial Award from Georgia State University (2001)
• Columbia University Women's Leadership Award (1993)

Dr. Maguen actively mentors research health fellows and other trainees in evidence-based treatments for PTSD. She has served on the Creating Options for Veterans' Expedited Recovery (COVER) Commission and has been featured in numerous media outlets discussing moral injury, veteran mental health, and PTSD treatments. Her work bridges clinical practice and research, with a strong emphasis on improving mental health services for veterans through evidence-based approaches and addressing specific needs of women veterans.