Phillippe B. Cunningham, PhD

Biography

Dr. Phillippe B. Cunningham’s career has been defined by his deep commitment to improving outcomes for disadvantaged and underserved youth through evidence-based, family-centered treatments. After earning his PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech, he joined the Medical University of South Carolina, where over two decades he became a leading collaborator with Dr. Scott Henggeler, the developer of Multisystemic Therapy (MST). Beyond refining MST’s intensive, community-based approach to antisocial behavior, Dr. Cunningham pioneered the integration of Contingency Management into MST and led its dissemination across provider networks, co-founding Evidence Based Services to support implementation and training.

An award-winning scholar, he received the Theodore H. Blau Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society of Clinical Psychology and was invited to the First Lady’s Conference on Helping America’s Youth. His prolific contributions include practitioner guides for adolescent substance abuse and co-author of multiple editions of MST handbooks, reflecting his emphasis on rigorous intervention science, cultural relevance, and adaptability for youth with serious and chronic behavioral health difficulties. His recent NIH-funded work uses machine learning to analyze therapeutic alliance, empathy, and interpersonal synchrony in comprehensive multicomponent behavioral family-based treatment-evaluating how physiological synchrony and empathic accuracy between Community Health Workers and families predict outcomes. Continuous NIH support and a passion for translating research into community impact underscore his role as a driving force in child and adolescent behavioral health.