Eric Crawford Ph.D.

Crawford had been the acting Director of the system starting January 2026 and was the Chief of Staff for the Sheridan VA for a decade prior to that. 

He earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University in 2005. He has served in the VA for nearly 25 years, with a decade as the SVAHCS Chief of Staff. He began his VA career as an Extern and Research Assistant at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in 2001 and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Durham VA Medical Center in 2005 and a post-doctoral fellowship in PTSD and Stress-Related Disorders at the VA San Diego Health Care System in 2006. Following the completion of his training, he joined the National Center for PTSD at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System as a Cooperative Studies Project Director before transitioning back to Durham, where he served for several years as Lead Psychologist in the Durham VA Medical Center’s OEF-OIF-OND Program, providing psychological services to Veterans with post-deployment mental health concerns. Prior to joining the Sheridan system in 2015, Dr. Crawford operated as an Assistant Professor in Duke University’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and as Assistant Director of the Clinical Core within VA’s Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center.