Paul S. Appelbaum, MD
Overview
Areas of Expertise / Conditions Treated
Academic Appointments
- Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor
Administrative Titles
- Director, Division of Law, Ethics & Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
I have a general psychiatric practice, with a particular emphasis on depression, anxiety, and adjustment disorders. My patients receive psychotherapy and/or medications, according to their needs and preferences.
Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D., the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Psychiatry, Medicine and Law, and Director, Division of Law, Ethics and Psychiatry at Columbia, was previously A.F. Zeleznik Distinguished Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry; and Director, Law and Psychiatry Program, University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Dr. Appelbaum is the author of many articles and books on law and ethics in clinical practice. Dr. Appelbaum is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, and has twice served as Chair of the Council on Psychiatry and Law and of the Committee on Judicial Action for the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Dr. Appelbaum is currently Chair of the DSM Steering Committee for APA, and of the Standing Committee on Ethics of the World Psychiatric Association. He has received the Isaac Ray Award of the American Psychiatric Association for "outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry and the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence," was the Fritz Redlich Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Appelbaum performs forensic evaluations in civil and criminal cases, and treats patients with a broad variety of problems, including depression, anxiety, and adjustment problems.
Hospital Affiliations
- NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia
Gender
- Male
Schedule an Appointment
Phone Appointments
Location(s)
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- Harvard Medical School
- Internship: Soroka Medical Center, Beersheva, Israel
- Residency: Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Board Certifications
- Psychiatry
- Forensic Psychiatry
Honors & Awards
- 2013: Golden Apple Award for significant contributions to forensic psychiatry, American Academy of Psychiatry and Law
- 2012: Distinguished Life Fellow, American Psychiatric Association
- 2008: America’s Top Doctors (and every year since)
- 2007: Best Doctors in America (and every year since)
- 2007: Isaac Hays, MD and John Bell, MD Award for leadership in medical ethics and professionalism, American Medical Association
- 2001: C. Charles Burlingame Award for major contributions to the field of psychiatry, Institute of Living
- 2000: Elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1997: Edward J. Strecker, M.D. Award for outstanding contributions in clinical psychiatry, Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital
- 1996-1997: Fritz Redlich Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
- 1990: Isaac Ray Award for outstanding contributions to forensic psychiatry and the psychiatric aspects of jurisprudence, American Psychiatric Association
Research
Dr. Appelbaum's research focuses on how legal and ethical rules affect medical practice and research, including informed consent, decisional capacity, mandatory treatment, advance directives, and confidentiality. He has a special interest in ethical and legal implications of neuropsychiatric genetics.
Dr. Appelbaum is involved in funded projects examining: functioning of IRBs at major medical centers around the country; therapeutic misconception in consent to research; use of behavioral genetic data in the courts; the consequences of returning genomic data to research subjects; unrealistic optimism in consent to medical research; use of N-of-1 trials; and impact of genetic conceptualizations of illness in Africa. He leads a NHGRI-funded center for research on ethical, legal, and social implications of psychiatric, neurologic and behavioral genetics.
Research Interests
- See description above.
- General Adult Psychiatry (psychotherapy and psychopharmacology)
Grants
RE-ENGINEERING PRECISION THERAPEUTICS THROUGH N-OF-1 TRIALS (Federal Gov)
Sep 1 2017 - May 31 2022
COLUMBIA/CORNELL/HARLEM HOSPITAL PRECISION MEDICINE INITIATIVE HPO (Federal Gov)
Jul 6 2016 - Dec 31 2021
CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE AWARD (Federal Gov)
Jul 1 2016 - May 31 2021
KIDNEY PRECISION MEDICINE PROGRAM (KPMP): COLUMBIA AKI RECRUITMENTSITE (Federal Gov)
Sep 15 2017 - Jun 30 2019
GENETICS, EPIGENETICS, PHILOSOPHY AND COMPLEX BEHAVIOR (Private)
Sep 1 2016 - Oct 31 2018
CENTRAL IRBS: ENHANCED PROTECTIONS FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS? (Federal Gov)
Sep 25 2014 - Aug 31 2018
ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS IN BUILDING PATIENT-CENTERED N-OF-1 RANDOMIZED AND OTHER CONTROLLED TRIAL METHODS (Private)
Dec 1 2014 - Jun 30 2018
CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON ETHICAL, LEGAL AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF PSYCHIATRIC, NEUROLOGIC AND BEHAVIORAL GENETICS (Federal Gov)
May 3 2013 - May 31 2018
ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS IN BUILDING PATIENT-CENTERED N-OF-1 RANDOMIZED AND OTHER CONTROLLED TRIAL METHODS (Private)
Dec 1 2014 - Nov 30 2017
CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCE AWARD (UL1) (Federal Gov)
Sep 30 2006 - Jun 30 2016
THE GOALS AND PRACTICES FOR NEXT GENERATION PRENATAL TESTING (Federal Gov)
Aug 10 2015 - May 31 2016
NEW YORK STATE OFFICE OF MENTAL HEALTH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM IN GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY (NY State Gov)
Jul 1 2013 - Jun 30 2015
CHALLENGES OF INFORMED CONSENT IN RETURN OF DATA FROM GENOMIC RESEARCH (Federal Gov)
Sep 23 2011 - Aug 31 2014
CENTER FOR ELSI RESEARCH ON PSYCHIATRIC, NEUROLOGIC, AND BEHAVIORAL GENETICS (Federal Gov)
Jun 1 2010 - Apr 30 2014
NYSPI FORENSIC PSYCHIATRY CONTRACT (NY State Gov)
Jul 1 2008 - Jun 30 2013
UNDERSTANDING OPTIMISM IN CLINICAL RESEARCH (Federal Gov)
Jul 1 2012 - Apr 30 2013
PROXY DECISION MAKING FOR ALZHEIMER DISEASE RESEARCH (Federal Gov)
Sep 1 2007 - Jun 30 2012
FIREARM LAWS, MENTAL DISORDER, AND VIOLENCE (Private)
Mar 31 2011 - May 31 2012
CAPACITY OF CHILDREN AND TEENS TO DECIDE ABOUT CANCER (Federal Gov)
May 1 2009 - Mar 31 2012
THE BLURRING OF TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN CLINICAL TRIALS: TWO PROBLEMS (Federal Gov)
Sep 28 2009 - Feb 29 2012
EXAMING ETHICAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH ON DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION (Private)
Jul 1 2008 - Jun 30 2011
ETHICS OF SURROGATE CONSENT FOR DEMENTIA RESEARCH (Federal Gov)
Sep 15 2007 - Jun 30 2011
AN OBSERVATIONAL DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF IRB PRACTICES (Federal Gov)
Jun 1 2006 - Apr 30 2011
RESEARCH ETHICS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA (Federal Gov)
Jun 1 2006 - May 31 2009
Selected Publications
- Appelbaum PS, Gutheil TG: Clinical Handbook of Psychiatry and the Law, 4th ed, Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 2007
- Berg JW, Appelbaum PS, Lidz CW, Parker L: Informed Consent: Legal Theory and Clinical Practice, 2nd ed, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, 2001
- Grisso T, Appelbaum PS: Assessing Competence To Consent To Treatment: A Guide for Physicians and Other Health Professionals. 1998
- Appelbaum PS: Almost a Revolution: Mental Health Law and the Limits of Change. 1994
- Anfang SA, Appelbaum PS : Forensic evaluation of the older patient, in Agronin ME, Maletta GJ (eds.), Principles and Practice of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins., Lippincott/Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia,PA,USA, 2011
- Klitzman R, Abbate KJ, Chung WK, Marder KS, Ottman R, Johansen Taber K, Leu C-S, Appelbaum PS. Psychiatrists' views of the genetic bases of mental disorders and behavioral traits and their utilization of genetic tests. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2014; 202.530-538.
For a complete list of publications, please visit PubMed.gov