Thomas E. Brown, PhD, a pioneer in the understanding of attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a member of the Yale Department of Psychiatry’s voluntary clinical faculty for two decades, died at home on August 18, 2025. He was 83.
A clinical psychologist who earned his PhD from Yale University, Brown helped reframe ADHD as a disorder of executive function. He created the widely used Brown Executive Function/Attention Scales and authored seven influential books, including “Smart but Stuck: Emotions in Teens and Adults with ADHD,” which continues to guide patients, families, and professionals worldwide.
Brown specialized in the treatment and assessment of high-IQ children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD. He was a consulting psychologist at Hamden Hall Country Day School in Hamden from 1979 through 2017, and he maintained an independent clinical practice in Hamden for over 30 years.
At Yale, he served on the Yale Department of Psychiatry’s voluntary clinical faculty from 1996 to 2017 and was associate director of the Yale Clinic for Attention & Related Disorders. In 2017 he relocated to California to live near family and was adjunct clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. He then became clinical professor of psychiatry & neuroscience at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine. He also directed his own clinic, the Brown Clinic for Attention and Related Disorders in Manhattan Beach, Calif., with his colleague, Ryan Kennedy.
A prolific lecturer, Brown gave workshops, grand rounds, and talks in more than 50 countries. He published over 30 peer-reviewed articles. Among his seven book titles were:
- “Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults”
- “A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults”
- “ADHD Comorbidities: Handbook for ADHD Complications in Children and Adults”
Brown was an elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association, received Knox College's Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2024 was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by CHADD, the nation’s leading nonprofit for ADHD.
Born in Minneapolis on June 25, 1942, Brown graduated from Knox College in 1964, earned a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School in 1968, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Yale University in 1976.
He married Bobbie Brown in 1967. They raised their children, Liza and David, in Hamden.
Brown is survived by his daughter, Liza Brown Somilleda, and her husband, Abel, of Hawthorne, Calif., his son, David Brown, and his wife, Jen, of Hancock Park, California; his sister, Nancy Gebhard, of Centennial, Colorado; and his grandchildren, Noah and Simone Somilleda, and Ford Brown-born June 25, 2025, on Dr. Brown's 83rd birthday.
In his tribute, CHADD has renamed its Young Scientist Award the Dr. Thomas E. Brown Pioneer Award.