Valerie Crabtree, PhD

Crabtree arrived at St. Jude in 2007 as a clinical psychologist and joined the faculty of the Department of Psychology in 2010 as director of Clinical Services and Training.  In her new role as chief of Psychosocial Services, Crabtree oversees numerous departments and clinics that address the psychosocial needs of St. Jude patients and families, including the Psychology Clinic, Child Life Services, the St. Jude School Program, Social Work, Spiritual Care, the Resilience Center, and the Transition Oncology Program.

In addition to her clinical and administrative work, Crabtree is a faculty member in the St. Jude Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and she conducts research on sleep and fatigue in children with cancer. Her work includes a focus on interventions to promote alertness and energy level in children undergoing treatment for cancer and in brain tumor survivors, particularly those who have been treated for craniopharyngioma.  In 2015, Crabtree and her co-author, Lisa Meltzer, Ph.D., published “Pediatric Sleep Problems: A Clinician’s Guide to Behavioral Interventions.”

Crabtree holds an undergraduate degree from Trinity University and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in counseling psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. Following graduate school, she completed her internship in clinical child/pediatric psychology and fellowships in pediatric psychology and behavioral sleep medicine at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, after which she became certified in behavioral sleep medicine.