Professor and Interim Chair
State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Dr. Ramaswamy Viswanathan served as President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), May 2024-May 2025. He chose as his APA presidential theme “Lifestyle for Positive Mental and Physical Health” which he also chose as the theme for the APA’s Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, May 17-21, 2025. This meeting is expected to be attended by over 10,000 people, and will feature about 45 sessions on lifestyle medicine out of a total of about 450 sessions, including two plenaries related to lifestyle. He also appointed an APA Presidential Workgroup on Lifestyle Psychiatry which has studied the literature and has produced a 380-page report co-authored by 33 contributors, on the evidence base and the science behind the six pillars of lifestyle medicine that psychiatrists should know, which will be widely disseminated. He and several of the workgroup members are working toward inclusion of lifestyle medicine in psychiatry residency training curricula. He has lectured extensively on lifestyle and mental and physical health nationally and internationally which has been impactful. Dr. Viswanathan is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry. He is Professor and Interim Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, NY, where he is also Director of the Psychiatric Consultation-Liaison Service, Program Director of the C-L Psychiatry Fellowship, Core Faculty in the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program, and Founding Co-Chair of the College of Medicine Faculty Wellness Workgroup. He is a senator in the 64-campus SUNY Faculty Senate. He is Chair of the Committee on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He has done research on physician-patient communication, how physicians resolve ethical dilemmas, and psychologic variables associated with treatment adherence in patients with gynecologic cancers, HIV, and children with sickle cell disease. He has a special interest in lifestyle interventions to promote health and wellbeing. He is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Liaison Psychiatry, and the following awards from the American Psychiatric Association: Nancy Roeske Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education, Irma Bland Award for Excellence in Residency Education, George Tarjan Award for Excellence in IMG Service, Ronald Shellow Award for Excellence in Service to the Assembly, and the Assembly RFM Mentor Award. He has been continually included in “Castle Connolly Guide: The Best Doctors – New York Metro Area”, since the year 1994.
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The Ubiquitousness of Lifestyle Medicine A Presidents Panel with AMA, OMA, ACOG, ASCM
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
9:15 AM – 11:00 AM CT