Biography
Dr. Robert Birnbaum is the Director of the Division of Postgraduate Education in the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and has been in clinical practice since 1989 providing clinical consultation services. Dr. Birnbaum received his medical and research doctoral degrees from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston University's Division of Graduate Medical and Dental Sciences. His PhD research was in protein biochemistry elucidating the role of calcium regulation in stimulus response coupling in neural and smooth muscle tissue. His post-doctoral research in molecular neurobiology was completed at Harvard Medical School's Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry under the supervision of Dr. Steven E. Hyman.
Dr. Birnbaum was awarded Ethel Dupont-Warren Foundation, Dana Neuroscience Foundation, and Scottish Rite Schizophrenia Research Grants to pursue his post-doctoral research investigating the induction of immediate early genes in mouse striatum and nucleus accumbens by psychotropic agents. His psychiatry residency training was completed at Massachusetts General Hospital, as was his chief residency in psychopharmacology. He has also received additional post-doctoral training and supervision in psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and cognitive behavioral modalities of psychotherapy.
He was the Director of Clinical Research and Psychopharmacology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for 10 years and Senior Psychiatric Administrator to the CareGroup/Lahey Behavioral Health Care System. He was also the Coordinator in Charge of the Psychiatric Applications of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), Laboratory for Magnetic Brain Stimulation, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Birnbaum has been involved in numerous psychopharmacologic clinical trials investigating the treatment of mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. He has lectured widely to multidisciplinary audiences nationally and internationally. He has utilized his dual training in the basic neurosciences and clinical psychiatry to focus his current investigative efforts on the disaggregation of complex behavioral phenotypes.
Disclosure
Speaking/Honoraria
Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly & Co., Shire, McNeil, Astra-Zeneca, Forest, Sanofi, Pfizer, and Merck.
Last updated: 7/27/2010
Courses
Special Topics in Management of Major Depressive Disorder and Related Mood Disorders
Major Depressive Disorder: Present State of Clinical Care, Assessing Treatment Challenges
New Approaches to the Treatment of Depression: Optimizing Efficacy and Patient Tolerability
Schizophrenia: Critical Management Issues in First-Episode and Chronic Patients
Psychopharmacology Updates: A Comprehensive Review of Evidence-Based Approaches
Web Simulcast of Schizophrenia Critical Management Issues in First-Episode and Chronic Patients
Advances in Understanding the Etiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders
Special Topics in Management of Major Depressive Disorder and Related Mood Disorders