Dr. Kenneth Dekleva's talk is one of the first times that a leadership analysis/political psychology profile of North Korea's Kim Jong Un has been presented in an academic setting. He will discuss how such a profile can be useful to academic scholars, policy makers, and the national security community.
Dr. Dekleva is McKenzie Foundation Chair in Psychiatry I, Director of Psychiatry-Medicine Integration, and Associate Professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry, Peter J. O’Donnell Brain Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX. He is board-certified in adult psychiatry, with additional qualification in forensic psychiatry. Dr. Dekleva received his BA in History at UC Berkeley, and later undertook post-baccalaureate pre-medical studies at Columbia University, NY; he subsequently received his MD at UT Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX, and also completed post-graduate/residency training in psychiatry therein. After working in a variety of academic, clinical and forensic psychiatric settings in the DFW area, he served as a Regional Medical Officer/Psychiatrist and senior US diplomat during 2002-2016, largely overseas (Moscow; Vienna; London; New Delhi; Mexico City), except for a 2-year assignment as Director of Mental Health Services, US Dept. of State, Washington, DC during 2013-2015. He retired from the US Dept. of State in 2016 with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Dr. Dekleva has published and/or presented (at local, regional, national, and international conferences) political psychology/leadership profiles of various world leaders since the mid-90s, including Radovan Karadzic, Slobodan Milosevic, Kim Jong Il, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. His work has been published in the
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law,
38 North,
The Diplomat, and the
Cipher Brief; he has also given various interviews to media outlets such as
NPR,
Background Briefing,
Smerconish/Sirius XM, and
CNN.
