Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Dep. of Psychiatry, Columbia Univ. Please click here to read Dr. Aggarwal’s CV. Neil Krishan Aggarwal is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and a Research Psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. As a cultural psychiatrist, his interests are in the clinical and forensic constructions of culture within mental health services. At the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, he conducts clinical research on the Cultural Formulation Interview whose development he contributed to as an advisor to the DSM-5 Cross-Cultural Issues...
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Oscar Jiménez-Solomon, PhD., MPH Research Scientist Please click here to read Mr. Jiménez-Solomon’s CV. Oscar Jiménez-Solomon is a mental health and social policy researcher who has dedicated his career to reducing inequities in mental health. His research focuses on understanding the role of social determinants of mental health and developing and evaluating social interventions. Oscar was born and raised in Peru and immigrated to the U.S. as a young adult. He holds a PhD in Social Policy and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Since 2013, Oscar has served as Research Scientist at the Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center. Currently, Oscar is Principal Investigator of a study funded by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to develop and test the feasibility and efficacy of From Hardship to Hope, a peer-led financial wellness intervention to reduce financial hardship and suicide risk. In collaboration with the Columbia Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Oscar is conducting a study to better understand how poverty, material hardship, and psychological distress reinforce one another. At the Columbia Mental Wellness Equity Center, Oscar leads the development of a community health worker-led financial empowerment intervention delivered in conjunction with brief evidence-based mental health interventions as part of ENGAGE, a community-based program funded by the New York State Office of Mental Health. Oscar’s past work includes the development of empowerment videos and training manuals to support young people experiencing first-episode psychosis, and people with limited English proficiency, to access culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Oscar is a member of the New York State Suicide Prevention Council, Academy of Peer Services Advisory Board, and Board of Directors of the National Disability Institute (NDI). Oscar’s past roles include Director of Community and Economic Development at the Alliance for Rights and Recovery (formerly New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, NYAPRS; 2008-2012), Officer of Research at the Mailman School of Public Health (2003-2004), Research Associate at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (1997-1999), and International Consultant at the United Nation Population Fund (2003-2004). His programmatic and research experience has included studies in the fields of masculinity, sexual and reproductive health, maternal mortality, and HIV/AIDS. Oscar has co-authored peer-reviewed publications, books, manuals, and training programs in the United States and Latin...
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Research Scientist, NYS Psychiatric Institute, Columbia Univ. Medical Center
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Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons Co-Director, Anxiety Disorders Clinic, New York State Psychiatric Institute Director, Hispanic Treatment Program, New York State Psychiatric Institute Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard University Please click here to read Dr. Lewis-Fernández’s CV. Roberto Lewis-Fernández, M.D. is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University and the Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment Program, and the Co-Director of the Anxiety Disorder Clinic, at New York State Psychiatric Institute. His research focuses on developing culturally valid interventions and instruments to enhance patient engagement, reduce misdiagnosis, and help overcome disparities in the care of underserved cultural groups, especially Latinos. He also studies the way culture affects individuals’ experience of mental disorder and their help-seeking expectations, including how to explore this cultural variation during the psychiatric evaluation. He led the development of the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview, a standardized method for cultural assessment for use in mental health practice, and was the Principal Investigator of its international field trial. 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, Immediate Past President of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and Past President of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry. He was a member of the NIMH National Advisory Mental Health Council and Chair of the Cross-Cultural Issues Subgroup of DSM-5. Currently, he is Co-Chair of the ICD-11 Working Group on Culture-Related Issues and a member of the Working Group on Somatic Distress and Dissociative Disorders. He is also Chair of the DSM Review Committee on Internalizing Disorders. His awards include the 2014 Simón Bolívar Award and the 2018 Health Services Senior Scholar Research Award of the American Psychiatric Association, the 2014 Creative Scholarship Award of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and the 2015 Multicultural Excellence Award of the New York State Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dr. Lewis-Fernández received a B.A. from Harvard College, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, and an M.D. from Yale Medical...
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