Steven A. Kushner

Steven A. Kushner, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, Psychiatrist and Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Co-Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Center for Precision Psychiatry & Mental Health. Over the past two decades, Dr. Kushner has built a research program focused on elucidating the etiologies and biology underlying neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, with the goal of developing improved clinical strategies for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of severe mental illness. He is the principal investigator of the Clinical Outcome Prediction of Psychosis from EHRs (COPPER) consortium using artificial intelligence to assist mental health providers by integrating whole genome sequencing and longitudinal electronic health record data. In addition, his group recently launched the ASPIRE (Advanced Statewide Psychiatric Illness Re-Evaluation) quality improvement initiative in partnership with the New York State Office of Mental Health, involving a statewide expansion of diagnostic screening among individuals with severe mental illness, with a particular focus on treatable autoimmune and genetic causes of psychiatric conditions.