Gayle A. Dakof

Dr. Gayle Dakof is a scientist, clinician and family advocate. She is the Director of MDFT International, a 501(c)(3) public charity devoted to the training, dissemination and implementation of Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT), an evidence-based treatment for adolescent substance abuse and behavior problems. She is also a Research Associate Professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Department of Public Health Sciences.

Dr. Dakof received her doctorate in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, and is a licensed psychologist. Dr. Dakof is a scientist-practitioner specializing in the development and testing of psychotherapeutic and systemic interventions directed toward preventing and treating substance abuse, child maltreatment, delinquency and criminality among adolescents and adult women. She is a Master Trainer of Multidimensional Family Therapy, and has trained clinicians throughout the United States and Europe. She is also the developer of a promising intervention for drug dependent mothers-the Engaging Moms Program. Dr. Dakof is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the Parents Translational Research Center and the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and a board member of the MDFT Academe located in the Netherlands. She has been a principle investigator or co-investigator on numerous NIH-funded research projects, and has authored over fifty publications.

Dr. Dakof can be contacted at gdakof@mdft.org or at www.mdft.org.