Constance E. Dunlap, M.D.

Dr. Dunlap is a private practice board-certified psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, medical educator, and health equity advocate. She holds the distinction of being the first Black woman president of the Washington Psychiatric Society (WPS), the first Black WPS Assembly Delegate, and first woman and first Black Area 3 Council Representative.

Dr. Dunlap's advocacy extends beyond the WPS Board, having served on workgroups for the APA Board of Trustees and Assembly Executive Committee. Since joining the APA Assembly in 2016, she has become a prominent and steadfast voice for racial literacy in undergraduate and graduate medical education and an advocate for accountability and transparency in tackling structural racism.

As WPS Assembly Delegate, Dr. Dunlap was the primary author of a key 2018 action paper urging broader discussion of race in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Her dedication led to her appointment on the APA workgroup that produced the 2022 DSM-5-TR chapter, "Culture and Psychiatric Diagnosis," which directly addresses the role of bias and discrimination in misdiagnosis of racialized and minoritized patients.

Dr. Dunlap earned her B.A. from Wheaton College (MA), an M.D. from Georgetown University School of Medicine, followed by an internship in OB/GYN at the Washington Hospital Center. She completed her residency in psychiatry at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and graduated from the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.

Currently, Dr. Dunlap is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.  She is actively involved in educating undergraduate and graduate medical students and psychoanalytic trainees.

Dr. Dunlap's numerous achievements have been acknowledged through various prestigious awards and recognition. These include WPS Psychiatrist of the Year; ; American Society of Psychoanalytic Physicians’ Henry P. and Page Laughlin Distinguished Citizen Award;  American Psychiatric Association Assembly’s 2022 Area 3 Resident-Fellow Member Mentor Award; Distinguished Life Fellowship of the APA; Fellowship of the American College of Psychiatrists; and membership in Black Psychoanalysts Speak.

In addition to presenting at local, national, and international conferences, Dr. Dunlap has made contributions to the field through numerous publications. Her articles, offering a psychodynamic perspective on race, culture, and navigating differences in training and supervision, have appeared in Clinical Psychiatry News, the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Psychoanalysis, Self & Context, APA’s Psychiatric News, and Capital Psychiatry Magazine.