Alison M. Duncan, MD

Alison M. Duncan, MD, is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center (BMC), where she directs Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES). She is also currently serving as Interim Director of the BMC Community Behavioral Health Center (BMC-CBHC) and as Medical Director of the CBHC’s Youth Clinic. Dr. Duncan is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and the consulting psychiatrist to the Boston Public Health Commission’s School-Based Clinics.

Dr. Duncan received her medical degree from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and completed her general psychiatry residency training at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She subsequently completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Bradley Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, through the Brown University Warren Alpert School of Medicine.

Dr. Duncan is President-Elect of PrideCAPA, a nonprofit affiliate organization of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry that is dedicated to the mental health needs of LGBTQ+ youth. She specializes in acute psychiatric services, pediatric consult–liaison psychiatry, suicide, substance use disorders (SUDs), severe mental illness, ADHD, depression in childhood and adolescence, and school mental health. At BMC, she is often accompanied by her dog, Cocoa, whose therapeutic skills are in high demand.

Dr. Duncan’s research focuses on acute psychiatric services, implementation science, quality improvement, and parent–adolescent communication.