Image of Roberto Lewis-Fernández

Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD

Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine

Dr. Lewis-Fernández is a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment Program, and co-director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic, at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is also lecturer on social medicine at Harvard University. Dr. Lewis-Fernández’s research focuses on developing clinical interventions and novel service-delivery approaches to help overcome disparities in the care of underserved US cultural groups. His work centers on improving treatment, engagement, and retention in mental health and physical health care by persons with anxiety, depression, and other serious mental illnesses. He also studies the way in which culture affects individuals’ experience of mental disorder and their help-seeking expectations, including how to explore this cultural variation during the psychiatric evaluation. The National Institutes of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the American Red Cross, and private foundations, including the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, have funded his work.  Dr. Lewis-Fernández is president of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry, chair of the Cultural Psychiatry Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and immediate past president of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture. He chairs the Internalizing Disorders Review Committee of the DSM and the Cultural Issues Review Committee of DSM-5-TR, and co-chairs the Working Group on Culture-Related Features of ICD-11.

Patient and clinician communication practices during the DSM-5 cultural formulation interview field trial.
Authors: Authors: Aggarwal NK, Cedeno K, Lewis-Fernandez R.
Anthropol Med
View full abstract on Pubmed
Cultural considerations in the classification of mental disorders: why and how in ICD-11.
Authors: Authors: Gureje O, Lewis-Fernandez R, Hall BJ, Reed GM.
BMC Med
View full abstract on Pubmed
Informed consent in psychiatry outpatients.
Authors: Authors: Deshpande SN, Mishra NN, Bhatia T, Jakhar K, Goyal S, Sharma S, Sachdeva A, Choudhary M, Shah GD, Lewis-Fernandez R, Jadhav S.
Indian J Med Res
View full abstract on Pubmed
Erratum: Justice for George Floyd and a reckoning for global mental health.
Authors: Authors: Weine S, Kohrt BA, Collins PY, Cooper J, Lewis-Fernandez R, Okpaku S, Wainberg ML.
Glob Ment Health (Camb)
View full abstract on Pubmed
Justice for George Floyd and a reckoning for global mental health.
Authors: Authors: Weine S, Kohrt BA, Collins PY, Cooper J, Lewis-Fernandez R, Okpaku S, Wainberg ML.
Glob Ment Health (Camb)
View full abstract on Pubmed
Systematic inclusion of culture-related information in ICD-11.
Authors: Authors: Gureje O, Lewis-Fernandez R, Hall BJ, Reed GM.
World Psychiatry
View full abstract on Pubmed
Motivational Interviewing: Overcoming Disparities in Pharmacotherapy Engagement.
Authors: Authors: Lewis-Fernández R, Coombs AA, Balán IC, Interian A.
J Clin Psychiatry
View full abstract on Pubmed
Adoption of the National CLAS Standards by State Mental Health Agencies: A Nationwide Policy Analysis.
Authors: Authors: Aggarwal NK, Cedeno K, John D, Lewis-Fernandez R.
Psychiatr Serv
View full abstract on Pubmed
Assessing Cultural Psychiatry Milestones Through an Objective Structured Clinical Examination.
Authors: Authors: Padilla A, Benjamin S, Lewis-Fernandez R.
Acad Psychiatry
View full abstract on Pubmed
COMBINED MIRTAZAPINE AND SSRI TREATMENT OF PTSD: A PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL.
Authors: Authors: Schneier FR, Campeas R, Carcamo J, Glass A, Lewis-Fernandez R, Neria Y, Sanchez-Lacay A, Vermes D, Wall MM.
Depress Anxiety
View full abstract on Pubmed