About Sidney Yudin, PhD

Sidney Yudin

Dr. Sidney Yudin, staff psychologist and former chief psychologist at Bellevue Hospital Center, was born on July 7, 1920 in Brooklyn, NY.

Dr. Yudin did his undergraduate work at Brooklyn College and was drafted while still in school. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II (1942–1946) and completed his BA in psychology after the war, graduating in 1947.

Dr. Yudin went on to earn an MA ('48) and a PhD ('57) in clinical psychology from NYU. While studying at NYU, Dr. Yudin met his future wife, Theodora, who was also studying for her master's degree in clinical psychology. At NYU, Sidney was a pupil of David Wechsler, who is best known for developing the widely used Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Dr. Yudin was later called the “historical conservator of the Wechsler tradition” by a Bellevue colleague.

Sidney Yudin

Dr. Yudin was among the first psychologists to be certified in New York State, holding license number 446.

Apart from two years at the University of Michigan, Dr. Yudin spent nearly his entire career at Bellevue, a so-called “creature of Bellevue." He served as Clinical Assistant Professor from 1965 to 1971 and was promoted to Clinical Associate Professor of Psychology in 1971. He was named chief psychologist after David Wechsler retired. Dr. Yudin was also an Adjunct Associate Clinical Professor at the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Fordham University and the City University of New York.

In addition to his work as a clinician, Dr. Yudin was a dedicated teacher, serving as director of the internship program. He received high praise in a report of an on-site re-accreditation visit by the American Psychological Association:

"Actual direction of the program remains with Dr. Yudin, who supervises many of the students in their clinical work, provides personal counseling when needed and “runs interference” for students who are having troubles on the wards to which they are assigned. I have visited few internship facilities at which the training director received higher marks from his or her charges than NYU-Bellevue. Dr. Yudin is seen as a concerned, compassionate, dedicated man who is also technically proficient and interpersonally facilitative. Most remarkable, he remains willing to go to bat for students who run into administrative hassles, an uncommon attribu