About

Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D. is Professor and the Constance and Stephen Lieber Chair in Psychiatry at the Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Throughout his forty-year career he has focused on research and clinical care of patients with serious mental illness. In addition to his academic and clinical activities, Dr. Lieberman has played a significant role influencing government and social policy, educating health care providers and the public in an effort to reduce stigma and improve access to and quality of mental health care. 

Dr. Lieberman’s research on the neurobiology, pharmacology and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders has advanced our understanding and treatment of mental illness and led to the transformative mental health care strategy for the early detection and prevention of schizophrenia. 

 Dr. Lieberman has authored or co-authored over 800 articles published in scientific literature and wrote or edited 17 books on mental illness, psychopharmacology and psychiatry. He is the recipient of many awards including the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research from NARSAD (BBRF), the Adolph Meyer Award from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) the Research Award from the National Alliance of Mental Illness among others. Dr. Lieberman is or has been a member of the Advisory committee for Neuropharmacologic and Psychopharmacologic Drugs of the FDA, the Planning Board for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health, Chair of the Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the APA Work Group for the Development of Schizophrenia Treatment Guidelines.

In 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, in 2010 fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and served as President of the American Psychiatric Association in 2013 and 2014. For his innovative public mental health initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was named to the Power 50 in Mental Health by New York City and New York State in 2021. 

Dr. Lieberman’s work has extended beyond biomedical research and clinical psychiatry into public policy and advocacy for improving mental health care, enhancing awareness and diminishing the stigma of mental illness. In this context, Dr. Lieberman actively contributed to government policy and legislation including the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act and has been a frequent public spokesperson in the media on mental illness and psychiatry. This motivated him to write the critically acclaimed book Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry (Little Brown 2015) for general audiences and deliver a TED Talk on Stigma and Mental Illness. Shrinks inspired the production of a four-part series, titled Mysteries of Mental Illness, that was nationally broadcast on PBS June 22 and 24, 2022.

His new book, Malady of the Mind: Schizophrenia and the Path to Prevention published by Charles A. Scribner’s of Simon and Shuster will be released in February 2023.