Steven Samuel "Steve" Sharfstein (born July 2, 1942) is an American psychiatrist. He was secretary of the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 37,000 members are involve ...

from 1991 to 1995, its vice president from 2002 to 2004, and president from 2005 to 2006.Roth, Sheldon (2006)
Steven S. Sharfstein, M.D., M.P.A., 132nd President, 2005–2006.
''

Am J Psychiatry ''The American Journal of Psychiatry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering all aspects of psychiatry, and is the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association. The first volume was issued in 1844, at which time it was ...

'' 163:1719, October 2006 Sharfstein also received the Human Rights Award from the American Psychiatric Association in 2007.

Life and career

Sharfstein was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and earned his bachelor's degree from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1964. He graduated from

Albert Einstein College of Medicine Albert Einstein College of Medicine is a research-intensive medical school located in the Morris Park neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Founded in 1953, Einstein operates as an independent degree-granting institution as part of t ...

in 1968 and did his psychiatric residency at

Massachusetts Mental Health Center The Massachusetts Mental Health Center is a historic psychiatric hospital complex at 75 Fenwood Road in the Longwood medical area of Boston, Massachusetts. The center was founded in 1912 as the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Its original main b ...

from 1969 to 1973. During that time he earned his M.P.A. from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. He later attended the six-week advanced management program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. He has been president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Sheppard Pratt Health System since 1992. He has been a lecturer in psychiatry at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

and has served as vice chair and clinical professor of psychiatry at

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. He held a variety of positions at the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...

, including director of mental health service programs, as well as positions in consultation/liaison psychiatry and research in behavioral medicine. Sharfstein has been involved in several prominent issues facing psychiatry, including the medical ethics of psychiatrists assisting with detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects at facilities like the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

.Lewis, Neil A. (November 13, 2005)
Guantánamo Tour Focuses on Medical Ethics.
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' He has spoken at length about the

biopsychiatry controversy The biopsychiatry controversy is a dispute over which viewpoint should predominate and form a basis of psychiatric theory and practice. The debate is a criticism of a claimed strict biological view of psychiatric thinking. Its critics include dis ...

in his field. He has also expressed concern about

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

that can occur between psychiatrists and drug companies.Carey, Benedict and Gardiner Harris (July 12, 2008)
Psychiatric Group Faces Scrutiny Over Drug Industry Ties.
''

'' In 2015 Sharfstein announced that he would retire from Sheppard Pratt in July 2016.

Personal life

His son Joshua Sharfstein, also a physician, was appointed by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

as Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA in 2009.

References

External links

Steve Sharfstein website
Living people 1942 births American psychiatrists Harvard Kennedy School alumni Dartmouth College alumni Albert Einstein College of Medicine alumni American health care chief executives {{US-psychiatrist-stub