Dr. Kavanaugh is a former president of the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education, former Director of Clinical Training in psychology at the University of Detroit, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Humanistic Studies. He is a former president of the MSPP and the current past president of the Academy for the Study of the Psychoanalytic Arts.  

Dr. Kavanaugh has presented and published on psychoanalytic epistemology, theory, practice, ethics, and education. During the past 35 years, he has worked with people in a variety of settings, e.g. residential treatment facilities, day hospital programs, and clinics. He is currently in the private practice of psychoanalysis in Farmington Hills, Michigan.