Robert was the ideal clinical academic, combining a depth of knowledge and erudition with a humble and kind approach to his work a clinician, teacher and researcher. We have lost a member of the IoPPN/Maudsley family who many will remember fondly.
Professor Matthew Hotopf CBE, Executive Dean IoPPN
02 February 2026
In Memoriam: Emeritus Professor Robert Goodman
With great sadness, we announce the death of Emeritus Professor Robert Goodman, who died in December.
Professor Robert Goodman was Professor of Brain and Behavioural Medicine within the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). Alongside this he was a member of the Royal College of Physicians and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1987.
With the exception of time spent at Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health as a Wellcome Training Fellow, Professor Goodman spent his entire career at the IoPPN and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, becoming one of the leading names in children’s mental health. He is the primary inventor the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Development and Wellbeing Assessment (DAWBA). These are psychiatric assessment instruments that are now employed worldwide.
As a child psychiatrist, Professor Goodman specialised in brain and behavioural medicine, with a specific focus on children’s mental health, understanding risk factors, hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body) and online psychiatric screening.
As well as writing many academic papers throughout this career, Professor Goodman is co-author, alongside Professor Stephen Scott, of the widely used book on child psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which has been published in many languages and is used globally.
Throughout his career his work was driven by a passion to develop tools and best-practice models to help children and young people have faster access to evidence-based care.
Robert spent his entire career with us, working for IoPPN and SLAM. He's one of the biggest names in the field of academic child mental health. The world's most widely used clinical measures (SDQ & DAWBA) are just a couple of many seminal aspects of his work. He also led the iterative national epidemiological studies, of the prevalence of mental health issues for children and young people. Internationally, they remain the largest ever conducted. The list of other accomplishments is long.
Dr Bruce Clark, Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Clinical Director for CAMHS Directorate, King’s Maudsley Partnership & CAMHS Clinical Academic Group
Dr Clark continues, "Professor Goodman had a genius and curious mind. He was a warm and interested trainer and mentor. He took an active part in the training and mentorship of swathes of aspiring child mental health academics and clinicians. There are many colleagues, myself included, who have been inspired enough by choose careers in this these exciting areas of clinical life because of him."
The impact of Professor Goodman’s research and career will be felt for a long time, with the SDQ and DAWBA helping standardise how mental health issues are identified in children and young people, making mental health support and interventions more accessible and effective for families and clinicians.