Our Experts
John M. Oldham, M.D.
John M. Oldham, M.D., one of the world’s foremost authorities in personality disorders, is Professor and Executive Vice-Chair of Clinical Affairs for the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. At Menninger, he leads projects ranging from basic neuroscience and brain imaging, to clinical psychopharmacology and the design of clinical service delivery systems. In his highly distinguished research and clinical career, Dr. Oldham’s research and clinical efforts have focused on clarifying personality disorder diagnosis, prevalence, and course across generations and life span.
Dr. Oldham is the former Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Chief Medical Officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health, and former Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Among his many accomplishments at Columbia, one of America’s top Departments of Psychiatry, was his creation of a forensic psychiatry fellowship.
After serving as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Columbia, Dr. the significant expansion underway in the Menninger Department at Baylor. At MUSC, he was recognized for teaching excellence with the Outstanding Didactic Teacher Award in 2006.
Dr. Oldham has been a leading figure in the American Psychiatric Association, with an expertise that spans numerous subdisciplines He chaired the Task Force on Quality Indicators and Council on Quality Care, and, he served as Chair of the Practice Guideline Work Group on Borderline Personality Disorder. As the Editor of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice. Dr. Oldham has applied his expertise in distilling the science of psychiatry to an understandable, user-friendly discipline.
Dr. Oldham has also published a diverse range of important reference texts. For the National Institute of Health, Dr. Oldham wrote, Health and Mass Violence: Evidence-Based Early Psychological Intervention for Victims/Survivors of Mass Violence. He is also the author of the Textbook of Personality Disorders; September 11, 2001, and its Aftermath in New York City; Personality Disorders: New Perspectives on Diagnostic Validity; Behavior and Adaptive Functioning; Impulsivity and Compulsivity; and the Textbook of Hospital Psychiatry.