Edna B. Foa, 88, of Philadelphia, renowned clinical psychologist, pioneering mental health researcher, creator of the celebrated prolonged exposure therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, longtime professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, lecturer, mentor, and volunteer, died Tuesday, March 24, of complications from pneumonia at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Dr. Foa was among the first psychologists in the 1970s and ‘80s to infuse empirical case study research into existing behavior protocols to create more effective mental health treatments for victims of rape, combat trauma, childhood sexual abuse, and other ordeals. She became an expert in PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social phobia, and her prolonged exposure therapy for PTSD and exposure and response prevention treatments for OCD are still hailed as breakthrough innovations.
From 1971 to 1997, she was a fellow, professor, and clinical researcher in the psychiatry departments at Temple University and the old Medical College of Pennsylvania, now part of Drexel University. She joined Penn’s Department of Psychiatry in 1998 and, over more than 50 years, evaluated thousands of mental health cases to determine which behavior therapy was best for each condition.
“Her work truly changed the field,” colleagues at the Ardmore-based Center for Hope and Health said on Instagram. They said she “spent her career doing what she believed mattered most: studying what actually helps people get better, and making those treatments more accessible.”
She created the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety at Temple in 1979 and directed it later at Penn. Colleagues at the center said on Facebook: “Through her brilliance, determination, and unwavering belief in the power of evidence-based care, she transformed the understanding and treatment of anxiety-related disorders and changed the lives of countless individuals and families around the world.”
Other colleagues and friends called her “brilliant,” “amazing,” and “extremely influential” in online tributes. One said she was “a giant who taught the world how to conquer fear and reclaim life.”
Dr. Foa earned grants for research and education, and taught her therapy techniques to veterans counselors in the United States and Israel, to therapists for the U.S. Army and the City of Philadelphia, and to clinicians at Women Against Rape and other groups around the world. In 2010, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
To share her innovations and encourage peer review, Dr. Foa edited Failures in Behavior Therapy in 1983 and cowrote Emotional Process of Fear in 1986 and Emotional Processing of Traumatic Experiences in 2007. The hundreds of books, manuals, articles, and papers she wrote, cowrote, or edited about memory, stress, anger, depression, and guilt have been cited more than 13,000 times by other authors.
She also volunteered as a consultant and supervisor at clinics and medical centers. She lectured and organized clinical workshops in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. In 2010, she told Time magazine: “If you develop a wonderful protocol, it’s useless if nobody uses it.”
She was affiliated with many mental health societies and associations, and earned lifetime achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and other groups. She was featured often in The Inquirer and the Daily News, and told the Daily News in 1993 that “everyone has little fears.” She said her little fears were of heights and swimming underwater.
In 1970, Dr. Foa earned both a doctorate in clinical psychology and personality from the University of Missouri, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology at the University of Illinois. In 1962, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and literature at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
She stopped working full-time at Penn in 2023 but never really retired. In April, she was scheduled to lead a workshop in prolonged exposure therapy. In 2011, she told The Inquirer: “If I die tomorrow, I think that what I have achieved is fine. If I don’t die, I don’t need to stop.”
Edna Ben Jacob was born Dec. 28, 1937, in what is now Haifa, Israel. She became fascinated by the work of psychologist Sigmund Freud, she told the Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and she worked briefly with juvenile offenders near Tel Aviv after high school.
In 2011, she told The Inquirer she was shattered by her own trauma in 1948 when her brother, Uri, was killed in the war and her father, Abraham, died four years later.
She married and divorced when she was young, and met Professor Uriel Foa at Bar-Ilan. They married when she was 24, had daughter Dora, and moved to the United States in 1966. They had daughters Yael and Michelle, and lived in Illinois and Missouri before moving to Glenside and then Penn Valley. She moved to Philadelphia a few years ago.
After a divorce, she married Penn professor Charles Kahn. Her husband and former husband died earlier.
Away from work, Dr. Foa enjoyed traveling, gardening, and hosting family and friends at holidays. She collected art and antiques.
She told an interviewer she had a bad habit of deleting emails before reading them. She managed lung cancer years ago.
“She was full of energy, vivacious, a force of nature,” said her daughter Yael. Her daughter Michelle said: “She was an extraordinary figure who lived a very rich life.”
In addition to her daughters, Dr. Foa is survived by five grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and other relatives.
Private services are to be held later.
Donations in her name may be made to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pa. 19130; and the Philadelphia Orchestra, 300 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
