Francine Shapiro

Francine Shapiro was a clinical psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. In 1987, she discovered the relieving effect of certain eye movements and developed the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) method for treating traumatic stress. She founded the EMDR Institute and initiated numerous scientific studies on EMDR. Shapiro also founded the nonprofit Humanitarian Assistance Program and served as its president. She published extensively on EMDR and used the program to support training in regions where access to appropriate treatment was limited.