Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD

Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernández is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Interim Vice-Chair of Research in the Columbia Department of Psychiatry; Interim Director of Research, Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment Program, and Area Leader for Anxiety, Mood, Eating and Related Disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

His research develops culturally congruent interventions and instruments to enhance the care of underserved cultural groups. He led the development of the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview, a standardized cultural assessment protocol. He has been PI or co-Investigator of 28 NIH-funded studies and other research, and published over 235 articles, chapters, and books on culture-related topics in mental health.

Dr. Lewis-Fernández is co-chair of the Cultural Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry and past president of the American Psychopathological Association, World Association of Cultural Psychiatry, the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry. He is Vice-Chair of the DSM-5-TR Steering Committee and was chair of the DSM Review Committee for Internalizing Disorders, the DSM-5-TR Culture-Related Issues Review Committee, and the DSM-5-TR Work Group on Ethnoracial Equity and Inclusion.

Selected Publications

Tuda D, Stefancic A, Lam P, John D, Sadaghiyani S, Choo TH, Galfalvy H, Coronel B, Gil R, Lewis-Fernández R: Life is Precious: A quasi-experimental study of a community-based program to prevent suicide among Latina adolescents in New York City. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, in press.

Lewis-Fernández R, Kirmayer LJ, Kohrt BA: Cultural concepts of distress, in Boland R, Verduin M (eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 11th edition. New York: Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins, in press.

Loewenstein R, Frewen P, Lewis-Fernández R: Dissociative disorders, in Boland R, Verduin M (eds.), Kaplan & Sadock’s Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 11th edition. New York: Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins, in press.

Gómez-Carrillo A, Kirmayer LJ, Aggarwal NK, Bhui KS, Fung K, Kohrt BA, Weiss MG, Lewis-Fernández R (on behalf of GAP Committee on Cultural Psychiatry): Integrating neuroscience in psychiatry: A cultural-ecological systemic approach. Lancet Psychiatry, 2023, 10(4): 296-304.

Jarvis GE, Andermann L, Ayonrinde O, Beder M, Cénat JM, Ben-Cheikh I, Fung K, Gajaria A, Gómez-Carrillo A, Guzder J, Hanafi S, Kassam A, Kronick R, Lashley M, Lewis-Fernández R, McMahon A, Measham T, Nadeau L, Rousseau C, Sadek J, Schouler-Ocak M, Wieman C, Kirmayer LJ: Taking action on racism and structural violence in psychiatric training and clinical practice. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2023 May, https://doi.org/10.1177/07067437231166985.

Aggarwal NK, Chen D, Lewis-Fernández R: Eliciting social stressors, supports, and determinants of health through the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview. Frontiers in Psychiatry-Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics, 2023, 14: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1148170.

Lewis-Fernández R, Chen CN, Olfson M, Interian A, Alegría M: Clinical significance of psychotic-like experiences across US ethnoracial groups. Psychological Medicine, 2023; 53: 7666-7676.

Aggarwal NK, Chen D, Lewis-Fernández R: Eliciting social stressors, supports, and determinants of health through the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview. Frontiers in Psychiatry-Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics, 2023, 14: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1148170.

Lam PC, Simpson D, John DA, Rodriguez M, Bridgman-Packer D, Cruz AG, O’Neill MA, Lewis-Fernández R: Differential engagement by race/ethnicity in experimental trials of mental health treatment interventions: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2022; 83(6):21r14343. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.21r14343.

Smith TE, Corbeil T, Wall MM, Tang F, Essock SM, Frimpong E, Goldman ML, Mascayano F, Radigan M, Wang R, Rodgers I, Dixon LB, Olfson M, Lewis-Fernandez R: Community, hospital, and patient contributions to ethnoracial disparities in follow-up after psychiatric hospitalization. Psychiatric Services, 2022, 73(2): 149-157.

Aggarwal NK, Lam P, Chen D, Lewis-Fernández R: Implementing the Cultural Formulation Interview in a community clinic to improve appointment retention: A pilot study.  Psychiatric Services, 2022, 73(2):227-230.

Gureje O, Lewis-Fernández R, Hall B, Reed G: Systematic inclusion of culture-related information in ICD-11.  World Psychiatry, 2019, 18(3):357-358.

Lewis-Fernández R, Kirmayer LJ: Cultural concepts of distress and psychiatric disorders: Understanding symptom experience and expression in context. Transcultural Psychiatry, 2019; 56:786-803.

Lewis-Fernández R, Coombs AA, Balán IC, Interian A: Motivational Interviewing: Overcoming disparities in pharmacotherapy engagement. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2018, 79(3):18ac12150.

Clark LA, Cuthbert B, Lewis-Fernández R, Narrow W, Reed GM: ICD-11, DSM-5, and RDoC: Three approaches to understanding and classifying mental disorder. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2017; 18(2):17-145.

Lewis-Fernández R, Aggarwal NK, Lam P, Galfalvy H, Weiss MG, Kirmayer LJ, Paralikar V, Deshpande S, Diaz E, Nicasio AV, Boiler M, Alarcón RD, Rohlof H, Groen S, van Dijk R, Jadhav S, Sarmukaddam S, Ndetei DM, Scalco M, Bassiri K, Aguilar-Gaxiola S, Ton H, Westermeyer J, Vega-Dienstmaier J: Feasibility, acceptability, and clinical utility of the Cultural Formulation Interview: Mixed-methods results from the DSM-5 international field trial.  British Journal of Psychiatry, 2017, 210:290-297.

Humensky JL, Coronel B, Gil R, Cifre R, Mazzula S, Lewis-Fernández R: Life is Precious: A community-based program to reduce suicidal behavior in Latina adolescents.  Archives of Suicide Research, 2016, 4:1-13.

Lewis-Fernández R, Morcillo C, Wang S, Duarte CS, Aggarwal NK, Sánchez-Lacay JA, Blanco C: Acculturation dimensions and 12-month mood and anxiety disorders across US Latino subgroups in the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions.  Psychological Medicine, 2016, 46:1987-2001.

Lewis-Fernández R, Aggarwal NK, Hinton L, Hinton DE, Kirmayer LJ (eds.): The DSM-5 Handbook on the Cultural Formulation Interview.  Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2016.

Aggarwal NK, Pieh MC, Dixon L, Guarnaccia PJ, Alegria M, Lewis-Fernández R: Clinician descriptions of communication strategies to improve treatment engagement by racial/ethnic minorities in mental health services: A systematic review.  Patient Education and Counseling, 2016, 99:198-209.

Cabassa, LJ, Gomes AP, Meyreles Q, Capitelli L, Younge R, Dragatsi D, Alvarez J, Nicasio A, Druss B, Lewis-Fernández R:  Primary health care experiences of Hispanics with serious mental illness: A mixed-methods study.  Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 2014, 41:724-736.

Lewis-Fernandez R, Aggarwal NK, Baarnhielm B et al.: Culture and psychiatric evaluation: Operationalizing cultural formulation for DSM-5. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 2014;77: 130-154.

Lewis-Fernandez R, Balan IC, Patel SR: Impact of motivational pharmacotherapy on treatment retention among depressed Latinos. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes 2013;76: 210-222.

Alcantara C, Casement M, Lewis-Fernandez R: Conditional risk for PTSD among Latinos: A systematic review of racial/ethnic differences and sociocultural explanations. Clinical Psychology Review 2013;33: 107-119.

Hinton DE and Lewis-Fernández R:  The cross-cultural validity of posttraumatic stress disorder: Implications for DSM-5.  Depression and Anxiety, 2011, 28:783-801.

Lewis-Fernandez R, Hinton DE, Laria AJ: Culture and the anxiety disorders: Recommendations for DSM-V. Depression and Anxiety 2010;27: 212-229.

Lewis-Fernández R, Gorritz M, Raggio GA, Peláez C, Chen H, Guarnaccia PJ:  Association of trauma-related disorders and dissociation with four idioms of distress among Latino psychiatric outpatients.  Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 2010; 34:219-243.

Lewis-Fernández R, Garrido-Castillo P, Bennasar MC, Parrilla EM, Laria AJ, Ma G, Petkova E:  Dissociation, childhood trauma, and ataque de nervios among Puerto Rican psychiatric outpatients.  American Journal of Psychiatry 2002; 159:1603-1605.

Lewis-Fernández R:  Cultural formulation of psychiatric diagnosis.  Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 1996; 20:133-144.

Lewis-Fernández R and Kleinman A:  Culture, personality, and psychopathology.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1994; 103:67-71.