Kathleen Nadeau, PhD

Kathleen Nadeau, PhD, is the founder and director of The Chesapeake Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The Chesapeake Center is one of the largest private ADHD specialty clinics in the United States, with a multidisciplinary team of over 40 providers. 

Nadeau has been internationally recognized as an ADHD authority for many years. She has devoted her career to promoting better care for individuals and families impacted by ADHD, as well as greater understanding of the complexity of many related disorders. After 50 years in clinical practice, she turned her focus to writing, program development, and training professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD through her national and international lectures.

She is the author of 15 books related to ADHD. Her most recent book, Still Distracted After All These Years, is the first and, as yet, only book highlighting the issues faced by older adults with ADHD.

Nadeau has served on the Professional Advisory Board of CHADD and was the recipient of the CHADD Hall of Fame Award in 1999, sharing this honor with her friend, colleague, and co-author Patricia Quinn, MD, for their groundbreaking work on women and girls with ADHD. Now, she and Quinn, along with Michael Morse, MD, are working on a new book, A Guide to ADHD in Women. This is an update to Understanding Women With ADHD, published in 2002.

Nadeau continues to be a passionate advocate for ADHD diagnostic criteria that more accurately identify the countless overlooked girls and women with ADHD. She earned her doctoral degree in psychology at the University of Florida.

Publications, media, and appearances

• Still Distracted After All These Years (2022)

• ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life (2017)

• The ADHD Guide to Career Success (2016)

• Understanding Girls With ADHD: How They Feel and Why They Do What They Do (2015)