Dr Stephen Cox

I am from Kentucky. I was born in Owensboro, in 1950. I grew up on the farm. My father was a professional magician, then a salesman, then a small businessman, and gentleman farmer. My mother was a registered nurse. My mother’s family were Native Americans, Tennessee Cherokee tribe.

I always wanted to be a doctor. I attended Centre College and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a major in Nuclear Chemistry. I worked as a research assistant for N.A.S.A. and the University of Kentucky RadioChemistry Department doing neutron activation analysis of the moon rocks brought back to Earth from the manned landing on the Moon. I attended medical school in Lexington, receiving my medical degree in 1975. I decided to train in the specialty of Psychiatry. I was Chief Resident of Psychiatry at the University of Kentucky, College of Medicine. I then went on to finish my formal medical training with one year of Child Psychiatry Fellowship. I established my private practice in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, in 1978.

I have published several articles in medical journals of interesting case reports and original research. I am presently, or have been, a member, of the AMA, the American Psychiatric Association, the Kentucky Medical Association, the Lexington Medical Society, the Southern Medical Association, and the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatry. I served as founder and first Service Director of the Adult Psychiatry Unit at Charter Ridge Hospital. I have served as the President of the medical staff of that hospital and as the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of both Good Samaritan Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital. I founded the Salpêtrière Journal Club. I am a board–certified psychiatrist, certified by the American Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. I have conducted FDA approval trials of new and experimental medications.

Back in the 1980’s I began to sub–specialize in Anxiety Disorders. I found my medical knowledge and mild manner to be well–suited to helping persons with these problems. I made an effort to learn everything available about anxiety. I became concerned that so many people across the country at that time had an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Some were receiving no treatment. Others were receiving ineffective or wrong treatment. To help these people I founded a national, non–profit medical health education organization, the National Anxiety Foundation. Its Scientific Advisory Board included internationally recognized experts in the field of Anxiety Disorders such as: David Sheehan MD, formerly of Harvard, author of the Anxiety Disease, Chief of Psychiatric Research at USF; Stephen Stahl MD Ph.D., University of California, San Diego; Judith Rapoport MD, author of The Boy Who Couldn’t Stop Washing, NIMH & National Institute of Health, and Donald Klein MD, Professor of Psychiatry, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University. The establishment of the National Anxiety Foundation was something I am proud of and I continue to be involved with it. Their website receives 30,000 hits per month.

I was on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatry. I have been on the Editorial Board of the medical journal, The Annals of Clinical Psychiatry. In 2009 I developed a DNA test to guide medical treatment in addictive disease.

Years ago, I married a terrific lady who had her Masters Degree in Library Science and was an elementary school teacher and later a director of Christian education. I have one daughter who is a talented architect.

My hobbies are horse trail riding, gardening, humour, and gravitation physics. I make my own German sausage. I do my own yard work. My favorite quotes are: “Never, never, never give up” – Winston Churchill. “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” – C. S. Lewis. Ne vendez pas le peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tue! (“Don’t sell the bear rug before you’ve killed the bear.”) – unknown French Canadian. “Failure is success in progress” – Albert Einstein.