John Monahan is a former psychology professor at the University of California and a former fellow in law and psychology at both Harvard and Stanford law schools. When he arrived at Virginia in 1980, he became the second non-lawyer on the Law School faculty. He teaches courses on social science in law.

Monahan is the founding president of the American Psychological Association's Division of Psychology and Law and received the APA's Distinguished Contribution to Research in Public Policy Award. In 1996, he won the Isaac Ray Award of the American Psychiatric Association "for outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry and psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence." He received an honorary doctorate in law from the City University of New York in 1997. He has served as director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mandated Community Treatment since 2000.

Monahan is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science. He has published 12 books and over 100 articles and chapters in books.

Education
Ph.D., Indiana University, 1972
B.A., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1968