Our Experts
Lewis A. Opler, M.D., Ph.D.
Lewis A. Opler, M.D., Ph.D, an internationally renowned psychopharmacologist, has made a number of pivotal contributions to mental health research worldwide. A Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine, he is currently the New York State’s Office of Mental Health’s Chief Medical Officer. Known for his work in schizophrenia and pharmacologic treatment of psychotic disorders, Dr. Opler was one of the first to undertake novel treatment strategies of negative symptoms in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. In collaboration with the late Dr. Stanley R. Kay, Dr. Opler co-authored the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), a symptom severity rating scale that has been translated into over 30 languages as the "gold standard" in testing the effectiveness of new antipsychotic drugs.
He has been particularly recognized for his skills in communicating the nuances of psychiatry to colleagues, patients, and to the general public. His funded research has included special focus on Hispanic populations, as well as the homeless, single, substance abusing, and those with mental illness. Dr. Opler has authored over 200 publications - primarily in the areas of psychopharmacology, public health, cognitive impairment, movement disorders, medication side effects, and symptom assessment.
Dr. Opler has twice been given the prestigious Exemplary Psychiatrist Award by the National Alliance for Mentally Ill. He addresses the community’s inquiries about psychiatric illness and treatment in his "Ask the Doctor" column which appears in the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill -NYS News. His well-received paperbacks, Prozac and Other Psychiatric Drugs (1996) and Resurrection and Redemption: Overcoming Mental Illness and Regaining Dignity (2003), demystify and de-stigmatize mental disorders and their treatment to the general public.
His ability to seamlessly bridge the biological, psychological and social has given him much experience in working with different disciplines and cultures. He has been invited by scores of hospitals around the United States and Canada to give grand rounds to his peers covering numerous areas of psychopharmacology standards, medication side effects, and psychosocial aspects of illness, and has mentored many of America’s most accomplished psychopharmacologists.