Dr. Carla Sharp is John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston and Associate Dean for Faculty and Research. She directs the  Adolescent Diagnosis Assessment Prevention and Treatment (ADAPT) clinic and the Developmental Psychopathology Lab at the University of Houston. Her work has significantly advanced the scientific understanding of the phenomenology, causes, correlates and treatment of personality pathology across the lifespan, with a specific focus on mentalizing as cause, correlate and mechanism of change. She has published over 420 peer reviewed publications, 60 book chapters and 9 books, including Mentalizing in Psychotherapy. She has published authoritative reviews on personality disorder in leading journals such as Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, and World Psychiatry. Her research has been continuously funded by the NIH for over a decade. She is the recipient of the 2016 Mid-Career Award, North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders;  the 2018 Award for Achievement in the Field of Severe Personality Disorders from the Personality Disorders Institute and Borderline Personality Disorder Resource Center, New York;  the 2024 Kernberg Award, for foundational contribution to the study of personality pathology in youth; and the Ken Silk Award for service to the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (2025). She has also been awarded the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award and several research excellence awards at the University of Houston. She is listed as top 2% of scientists worldwide since 2019. She serves as editor or co-editor on multiple personality disorder journals. She was a committee member on the American Psychiatry Association (APA) workgroup to update the treatment guidelines for Borderline Personality Disorder, and chairs the APA workgroup for evaluation of nosological changes for personality disorder. She is a licensed psychologist, Mentalization-based Therapy trainer and supervisor, and continues to be clinically active.

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