Dr. Steve Epstein is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry of the Georgetown University School of Medicine and Chief of Service of the Department of Psychiatry of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. In January 2016, he was appointed Physician Executive Director for Behavioral Health across the MedStar Health system.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After completing a residency in psychiatry at Tufts-New England Medical Center, he was a fellow in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Georgetown/Fairfax Hospital. From 1990 to 2000 he directed Georgetown’s Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry service and he became department chair in 2001. He currently directs Georgetown’s Physician-Patient Communication Program, and Physician Health Committee.
Dr. Epstein has conducted NIH-funded research and published extensively in the area of consultation-liaison psychiatry. In 2001, he was awarded an RO1 grant from NIMH to study primary care physicians’ decision-making in the evaluation and treatment of depression. He has also been principal investigator on two other NIMH grants in this area. He has been the recipient of four teaching awards from Georgetown psychiatry residents. In 2011 he was elected by his peers to the MAGIS Society of Masters Teachers of the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He is also co-chair of the Committee on Medical Education for the medical school.
Dr. Epstein recently served as President of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, the 1200-member national organization for Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He is also a member of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In July 2015, he was appointed to a six-year term as a member of the Psychiatry Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.