Barry Nurcombe, MD

Barry Nurcombe, MD, is an Australian educator. He is the director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Department and a professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He is best known for his publications such as Precausal and Paracausal Thinking: Concepts of Causality in Aboriginal Children, Clinical Decision Making in Psychiatry, and The Treatment of Sexually Abused Children.

Dr. Nurcombe received a bachelor’s degree in medicine and science from the University of Queensland in 1956. Three years later he was given a diploma in psychological medicine from the University of Melbourne. He also earned his medical degree from the same university.

Dr. Nurcombe began his career as a medical director at Australia Division of Youth Welfare & Guidance in 1960. Seven years later, he was appointed an associate professor of the Child Psychiatry Department at the University of New South Wales. He then became the Director of Child Psychiatry and professor at the University of Vermont. He also held the position of a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University.