Jeffrey Lieberman


Jeffrey Alan Lieberman is an American psychiatrist who specializes in schizophrenia and related psychoses and their associated neuroscience and drugs. He was principal investigator for CATIE, the largest and longest independent study ever funded by the United States National Institute of Mental Health to examine existing therapies for schizophrenia.
He was previously president of the American Psychiatric Association from May 2013 to May 2014.
Lieberman is the Lawrence E. Kolb Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He also holds the Lieber Chair and directs the Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia and serves as the psychiatrist in chief of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Education and early career

Lieberman graduated from Miami University in 1970, and then received his medical degree from the George Washington School of Medicine in 1975. Following his postgraduate training in psychiatry at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center of New York Medical College, he was on the faculties of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and served as director of research at the Zucker Hillside Hospital of Long Island Jewish Medical Center.
Prior to moving to Columbia University, he was vice chairman for Research and Scientific Affairs in the UNC Department of Psychiatry and Director of the Mental Health and Neuroscience Clinical Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.

Research

Lieberman's research has focused on the neurobiology, pharmacology and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. In this context, his work has advanced our understanding of the natural history and pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the pharmacology and clinical effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs.
His research has been supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the NARSAD, Stanley, and Mental Illness Foundations.

CATIE study

Lieberman served as principal investigator for Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health. The investigators compared a, "first-generation antipsychotic, perphenazine, with several newer drugs in a double-blind study". "Probably the biggest surprise of all was that the older medication produced about as good an effect as the newer medications, three of them anyway, and did not produce neurological side effects at greater rates than any of the other drugs," Lieberman told The New York Times.

Publications

Lieberman's work has been reported in more than 450 articles in the scientific literature and he has edited or co-edited eight books, including the textbook Psychiatry, currently in its second edition, Textbook of Schizophrenia, Comprehensive Care of Schizophrenia, Psychiatric Drugs and Ethics in Psychiatric Research: A Resource Manual on Human Subjects Protection.
He also serves, or has served, as associate editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Schizophrenia Research, NeuroImage, The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, and Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Awards, honors, and memberships

Lieberman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research from NARSAD, the Adolph Meyer Award from the American Psychiatric Association, the Stanley R. Dean Award for Schizophrenia Research from the American College of Psychiatrists, the APA Research Award, the APA Kempf Award for Research in Psychobiology, the APA Gralnick Award for Schizophrenia Research, the Ziskind-Somerfeld Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, the Ernest Strecker Award of the University of Pennsylvania, the Lilly Neuroscience Award from the Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum for Clinical Research, the Scientific Research Award and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Ed Hornick Memorial Award of The New York Academy of Medicine, the Strecker Award of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.
He is or has been a member of the advisory committee for Neuropharmacologic and Psychopharmacologic Drugs of the Food and Drug Administration, the Planning Board for the Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health, the Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments of the APA, the APA Work Group for the Development of Schizophrenia Treatment Guidelines, the Brain Disorders and Clinical Neuroscience Review Committee, the National Advisory Mental Health Council of the NIMH, and currently chairs the APA Council of Research.

Controversy

Conflict of Interest

Lieberman's work necessitates close work with many leading pharmaceutical companies, and raises questions of improper conduct due to extrajudicial funding. Lieberman has consistently filed disclosure of his funding and has not been accused of any undisclosed improprieties.
On multiple occasions, Lieberman has publicly disclosed information about potential conflicts of interest. This has included a 2006 letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, a 2007 release in Primary Psychiatry, and a 2009 disclosure to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Lieberman's most recent conflict of interest disclosure came in 2013. As of June 2013, as disclosed in Annals of Internal Medicine, the British Journal of Psychiatry, and JAMA, Lieberman's disclosure of financial conflict of interest is on file with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.
A note on "competing interests" for contributors to his Essentials of Schizophrenia stated that Lieberman received no direct financial compensation for his research, consulting and advisory board activities other than Intra-Cellular Therapies.

Criticism

Lieberman has received criticism from an ex-patient for his demeanor and his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. He has also removed anti-psychotic drugs from patients and gave them psychogenic drugs in experiments.

Personal life

He resides in New York City with his wife, Rosemarie, and two sons.