Dr. Bruce Harry
Central 1968
As one of the nation’s leading forensic psychiatrists, Dr. Bruce Harry evaluates mentally disordered offenders for the judicial and correctional systems at both the state and federal levels. He also teaches students of psychiatry and the law at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
At Mizzou, Harry is an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Psychiatry and Law Division of the Department of Psychiatry at the university’s School of Medicine. He also is an adjunct associate professor of law at the university’s School of Law, where he teaches classes on the death penalty and on mental disabilities and the law. He has held numerous other positions at the university’s School of Medicine, as well as the Health Sciences Center.
At Fulton State Hospital, Harry is the interim clinical director and serves as the medical director for the Biggs Forensic Center, Missouri’s only maximum-security hospital for the psychiatric treatment of violent mentally ill men and women. He treats numerous patients, supervises the other physicians, oversees the clinical programs, and is chairman of the Forensic Review Committee. Other positions he has held at Fulton include president of the medical staff and chairman of the Ethics and Research committees.
In addition to his work in Missouri, Harry was an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (1981-82). He also has given lectures at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Training Academy in Quantico, Va., and occasionally collaborates with its Behavioral Sciences Unit for purposes of research, education, training and criminal investigative analysis. His professional interests lie specifically in sexual homicides and serial killers.
Harry maintains licensure to practice medicine in Missouri, and national professional certifications with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (in both general and forensic psychiatry), and the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry. He actively contributes to professional organizations, including the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American College of Psychiatrists, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Homicide Investigators Association, and the International Criminal Investigative Analysis Fellowship.
Harry has received numerous awards and honors during his academic career, including: the Residents’ Award for Teaching Excellence in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine; the Graduate Interdisciplinary Faculty Award for Excellence from the Sinclair School of Nursing, University of Missouri (2006); and, Doctor of the Year at Fulton State Hospital (2004-05). In 1996, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law presented him with their Outstanding Service Award. In 2003, he became a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
Harry earned an A.B. degree in mathematics in 1972 and an M.D. degree in 1977, both from the University of Missouri. He completed his residency training in psychiatry in 1981 also at the University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, where he was chief resident in psychiatry (1979-1980) and a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry (1980-1981).
He has been married to Kathleen (Kate) for 35 years. Together, they have four wonderful children.