Leighton, Dorothea Cross, 1908-1992

Physicians who researched Navajo life and problems.

Both born in 1908, Dorothea C. and Alexander H. Leighton received their M.D.s from Johns Hopkins University in 1936. Both were training in psychiatry when they began their study of life problems of Native Americans in 1940.

Dorothea C. Leighton was born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts, on September 2, 1908. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College in 1930 and her M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1936. Married to Dr. Alexander H. Leighton from 1937 to 1965, Dr. Leighton had two children, Dorothea G. and Frederick A.

From 1930 to 1932, Dr. Leighton was a chemistry technician at Johns Hopkins Hospital and an intern in medicine at Baltimore City Hospitals from 1936 to 1937. She was house official psychiatrist from 1937 to 1939 and, with Dr. Alexander H. Leighton, received the Joint Post-doctoral Research Training Fellowship at the Social Science Resource Council, 1939 to 1940. Dr. Leighton was a Special Research Physician for the United States Indian Service from 1941 to 1945 and Social Science Analyst for the United States Office of War Information in 1945. A Professor of Child Development and Family Relations at New York State School of Home Economics, Cornell University, from 1949 to 1952, Dr. Leighton became Senior Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, 1952 through 1965, Assistant Professor at the Psychiatric Medical College, 1954 through 1958, and Associate Professor, 1959 through 1965. She was Professor of Mental Health at the School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1965 to 1974, and Chairman of the Department from 1972 to 1974. Dr. Leighton was Professor Emeritus of Mental Health at Chapel Hill and at the Department of Epidemiology and Internal Health, University of California, San Francisco from 1974 until her death in 1992.

Dr. Dorothea C. Leighton authored two books: Character of Danger, 1963 and And People of the Middle Place. Dr. Leighton also co-authored three books with Dr. Alexander H. Leighton: The Navajo Door, 1944; Gregorio The Handtrembler, 1949; and Psychiatric Disorder Among the Yoruba, 1963. In addition, she co-authored two books with Dr. Clyde Kluckhohn: The Navajo, 1946 and Children of the People, 1947.

Alexander Hamilton Leighton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 17, 1908. He received his B.A. at Princeton University in 1932, M.A. at Cambridge University in 1934, and a M.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1936.

Dr. Alexander H. Leighton began his long and distinguished career as a Social Science Research Council Fellow for field work among Navajos and Eskimos, Columbia University, 1939 to 1940; then as a Special Research Physician for the United States Indian Service from 1941 to 1945; a Guggenheim fellow, 1946-47; Director of the Southwest Project, Cornell University, 1948-53; member, Board of Directors, Social Science Resource Council, 1948-58; Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Psychiatry, Cornell University, 1948-1966; Director, Stirling County Project, 1948- ; Chairman, Committee of Psychiatry and Social Science, 1950-58; Director of the Program for Social Psychiatrists, Cornell University, 1955-66; Consultant, Surgeon General's Advisorial Committee on Indian Affairs, 1956-59; Technical Adviser, Milbank Memorial Fund, 1956-63; Professor of Social Psychiatry, Medical College, 1956-66; Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science, 1957-58; member, Expert Advisorial Panel on Mental Health, WHO, 1957-75; member, Sub-Panel on Behavioral Science, President's Scientific Advisory Committee, 1961-62; Consultant, Peace Corps, 1961-63; Reflective Fellow, Carnegie Corporation, 1962-63; member, Committee on the Effects of Herbicides in Vietnam, National Academy of Science, 1971-72; member, Consulting Committee on Mental Health Resources, Department of National Health and Welfare, Canada, 1982- ; and a Professor of Social Psychiatry and Head, Department of Behavioral Sciences, 1966 to 1975, and Professor Emeritus of Social Psychiatry, Harvard School of Public Health, 1975- . Dr. Leighton has been Professor of Psychiatry and Community Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, since 1975.

Dr. Alexander H. Leighton has authored six books: The Governing of Men, 1945; Human Relations in a Changing World, 1949; My Name is Legion, 1959; An Introduction to Social Psychiatry, 1960; Come Near, 1971 (a novel); and And Caring for Mentally Ill People, 1982. In addition, he has co-authored three books with Dr. Dorothea C. Leighton: The Navajo Door, 1944; Gregorio the Handtrembler, 1949; and Psychiatric Disorder Among the Yoruba, 1963.