- Principal
- San Francisco, CA
- 415-771-0320
Erik Gann, M.D.
Erik Gann, M.D., is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has been in private practice in San Francisco and New York City for over 35 years. Among his clinical interests, he has worked with executives seeking help with a variety of work inhibitions, problems with authority and issues of leadership, and difficulties in relations with others in the workplace. In addition, early in his career with his studies in the Group Relations Conferences of the A. K. Rice Institute, he has also maintained a special interest in the dynamics of groups and organizations. In recent years, his studies have also focused on organizational structure with an emphasis on the relationship of individual roles to lines of authority and responsibility, as well as problems peculiar to leadership positions.
Dr. Gann has himself been involved in a number of organizations and leadership positions. From 1990-94 he served as Medical Director of Adult Services and Education at the Menninger San Francisco Bay Area Division of Clinical Services and then from 1996-2000 served first as President-Elect and then President of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute and Society, in which position he simultaneously chaired the Board of Trustees. As a member of the American Psychoanalytic Association for over 30 years, he has chaired major committees and served on numerous others. Dr Gann has published on theoretical and clinical topics in the scientific psychoanalytic journals and on issues in developing and maintaining a successful private practice in the professional trade publications. Winner of the 1995 Best Teacher of the Year Award in psychiatry at the California-Pacific Medical Center, he is also a highly sought after lecturer by professional and community groups nationally on these issues. He was also elected by his peers to be named in San Francisco Magazine’s 2007 issue on “The Best 500 Doctors in the Bay Area.”
Beyond his career in psychiatry and psychoanalysis, Dr. Gann also served for 20 years as Vice-President of Cameron Craig, Ltd., a family owned business founded by his father in the international spirits and wine importation industry, where he played a key role in negotiating conflict resolution in the often challenging waters of international trade. Recent activities have included lecturing and consulting in China and Taiwan.
Dr. Gann, a native New Yorker, attended Yale University, majoring in Philosophy, and then received his medical degree at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He did his psychiatric training at the Mt. Zion Hospital in San Francisco and his psychoanalytic training at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute. After completing his studies there, he moved his practice to New York City, where he joined the faculties of the Department of Psychiatry and the Psychoanalytic Institute at the New York University Medical Center. In 1990 he returned to San Francisco where he is currently a Training and Supervising Analyst and faculty member and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. Dr. Gann is a member of the American Psychoanalytic and International Psychoanalytical Associations and the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations. He has also served on the Boards of the San Francisco Foundation for Psychoanalysis and the Traveling Jewish Theatre. He recently stepped down from serving as Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.