In Memoriam: Francine Shapiro

“The world has lost a distinguished and decorated scholar, a visionary, and healer who dedicated her life to the healing of suffering in the world.”
—EMDR Research Foundation Board of Directors

Guilford mourns the loss of Francine Shapiro, with whom we enjoyed a long and productive working relationship. Dr. Shapiro, the pioneering originator and developer of EMDR therapy, passed away on June 16, 2019. She was Senior Research Fellow Emeritus at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California; Executive Director of the EMDR Institute in Watsonville, California; and founder and President Emeritus of the Trauma Recovery/EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs, a nonprofit organization that coordinates disaster response and pro bono trainings worldwide. She was a recipient of the International Sigmund Freud Award for distinguished contribution to psychotherapy, presented by the City of Vienna in conjunction with the World Council for Psychotherapy; the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice in Trauma Psychology from Division 56 of the American Psychological Association; and the Distinguished Scientific Achievement in Psychology Award from the California Psychological Association. Dr. Shapiro was designated as one of the “Cadre of Experts” of the American Psychological Association and the Canadian Psychological Association Joint Initiative on Ethnopolitical Warfare and served as advisor to a wide variety of trauma treatment and outreach organizations and journals. She was an invited speaker at psychology conferences worldwide and authored or coauthored more than 90 articles, chapters, and books about EMDR.