Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst, Dr. Jeanette Gadt, was honored at PCC’s Holiday and Graduation Party on Sunday, December 14, 2025. PCC President, Dr. Eliane Hary, offered the following remarks.

“Dr. Jeanette Gadt has always been a leader. She graduated from UCLA with a PhD in American History and almost immediately became Acting Assistant Professor in the history department there and a member of the Chancellor’s Committee on Interdisciplinary Education. She became Acting Dean of the Division of Critical Studies at the California Institute of the Arts only a year after receiving her PhD, and was made Dean of the Division the following year. As Dean, she was tasked with developing curricula and restructuring the entire division, including directing a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

PCC’s first training class was held in 1980. Jeanette was a candidate in our second class, which started in 1981. We began as the Department of Psychoanalysis at the California Graduate Institute (CGI), chaired by James Gooch. Jeanette was part of the early group who spearheaded the effort to transform the California Graduate Institute into the independent Psychoanalytic Center of California Society and Institute. In addition to Drs. Gooch and Gadt, members of this group included Jane van Buren, Bonnie Engdahl, Shirley Gooch, James Grotstein, Albert Mason, and Avedis Panajian. A lawyer candidate helped draft our Bylaws, and Jeanette helped write our Policies and Procedures. She was also Chair of the Candidates and the Clinical Affiliates during this time and a member of the committee to gain accreditation from the International Psychoanalytic Association. Accordingly, we became one of the first Society-Institutes in the US to become recognized as an independent component society of the IPA. This was in 1989, and Jeanette graduated in 1991, becoming a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst in 1997. 

Dr. Gadt was one of the founders of the Confederation of Independent Psychoanalytic Societies (CIPS) and a founding member of the North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (NAPsaC). She has been President of PCC, has served on committees too numerous to name here, and has taught many of the courses we now offer. She is currently President of the Faculty Senate.

Between 2012 and 2014, Jeanette revived the Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Training Program. Recently she co-chaired the committee that worked to develop an Integrated Training Program, consisting of classes for the adult training as well as training for work with infants, children, and adolescents. This program was approved in 2024. Between the Integrated Program and the Infant, Child, and Adolescent Program, we currently have a class of nine candidates.

We can see how Dr. Jeanette Gadt has been a pillar of our Society and Institute since her days as a candidate. She has been at the forefront of our development and is still spearheading innovation in our programs and our curricula. Jeanette, we owe her a great deal and are infinitely grateful for her brilliance, her loyalty and determination, and above all, her passion for psychoanalysis.