Leo Sher, M.D., is an internationally recognized physician and scientist and a person of outstanding honesty and integrity.
Dr. Sher is a psychiatrist with a background in internal medicine. His areas of expertise include the diagnosis, treatment, neurobiology, and neuropsychopharmacology of mood disorders and suicidal behavior.
Dr. Sher is involved in many scholarly activities. He has excellent leadership skills and frequently develops new ideas and initiatives.
Dr. Sher has authored 730 publications which include 103 Original Research Reports, 204 Reviews, Theoretical Papers, Editorials and Treatment Guidelines, 17 Books, 8 Special Issues of Journals, 89 Book Chapters, 3 Patents, 6 Book Reviews, 160 Letters to the Editor and Brief Commentaries, 16 Book Introductions and Prefaces, and 124 Conference Proceedings.
Dr. Sher’s scholarly works have been published in many scientific journals including Journal of Affective Disorders; Neuropsychopharmacology; European Neuropsychopharmacology; Archives of General Psychiatry; Molecular Psychiatry; American Journal of Psychiatry; Journal of Clinical Psychiatry; Lancet; Comprehensive Psychiatry; Psychiatric Genetics; Neuroscience; Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience; Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism; QJM: An International Journal of Medicine; Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences; Psychoneuroendocrinology; Journal of Neural Transmission; Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry; Addictive Behaviors; International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health; Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; Journal of Men’s Health and Gender; Depression and Anxiety; Bipolar Disorders; Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology; Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics; Psychological Medicine; Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease; American Journal on Addictions; Archives of Suicide Research; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs; Journal of Psychiatric Research; Psychiatry Research; Clinical Neuroscience Research; International Journal on Disability and Human Development; Medical Hypotheses; American Journal of Acupuncture; Forschende Komplementärmedizin und Klassische Naturheilkunde/Research in Complementary and Classical Natural Medicine; Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry; Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences; Canadian Journal of Psychiatry; Acta Neuropsychiatrica; Minerva Pediatrica; PLoS Medicine; Psychopharmacology; Italian Journal of Neurological Sciences; Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine; Journal of the American College of Cardiology; Psychosomatics; Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics; Journal of Psychosomatic Research; Southern Medical Journal; Nordic Journal of Psychiatry; Biological Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology; General Hospital Psychiatry; American Journal on Addictions; TheScientificWorldJournal; Evidence-Based Mental Health; Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery; Military Medicine; International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; and Frontiers in Public Health.
Dr. Sher has published 17 edited books: “Adolescence and Alcohol: An International Perspective” (2006), “Alcohol and Suicide: Research and Clinical Perspectives” (2007), “Research on the Neurobiology of Alcohol Use Disorders” (2008), “Psychological Factors and Cardiovascular Disorders: The Role of Psychiatric Pathology and Maladaptive Personality Features” (2008), “Psychological Factors and Cardiovascular Disorders: The Role of Stress and Psychosocial Influences” (2009), “Comorbidity of Depression and Alcohol Use Disorders” (2009), “Internet and Suicide” (2009), “Alcohol-Related Cognitive Disorders: Research and Clinical Perspectives” (2009), “War and Suicide” (2009), “Suicide in the Military” (2009), “Terror and Suicide” (2009), “Suicidal Behavior in Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Dependence” (2010), “Neurobiology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (2010), “Immigration and Mental Health: Stress, Psychiatric Disorders and Suicidal Behavior Among Immigrants and Refugees” (2010), “Adolescent Psychiatry: A Contemporary Perspective for Health Professionals” (2013), “Neurobiology of Men’s Mental Health” (2015), and “Forensic Psychiatry: A Public Health Perspective” (2015).
Dr. Sher is an Editorial Board Member of 9 scientific journals. He is a reviewer for numerous medical journals.
Dr. Sher is the Chair of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Task Force on Men’s Mental Health, a Member of the WFSBP Task Force, “Mental Disorders and General Practice,” a Corresponding Member of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP), a Member of the International Academy of Suicide Research (IASR), and an Executive Member of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Section on Dual Disorders/Pathology.
Dr. Sher gave Grand Rounds and other educational lectures in many universities, medical schools and hospitals in the U.S. and around the world. He also gave many talks at national and international scientific conferences, including several landmark presentations.
Dr. Sher has conducted extensive and groundbreaking research on the psychobiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavior. He was the first researcher in North America who introduced the use of the combined dexamethasone suppression/corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test for psychiatric purposes. Dr. Sher has proposed the concept of posttraumatic mood disorder that was met with significant interest by experts in the field. He has also proposed a model of suicidal behavior in traumatized war veterans.
Dr. Sher is the recipient of several awards including the Charlotte Marker Zitrin, M.D. Award from the Long Island Jewish Medical Center for the Best Scientific Paper (1997) and the International Award for Excellence in Published Clinical Research in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (2004). Dr. Sher is the recipient of the 2023 Physician of the Year Award at the James J. Peters Veterans’ Administration Medical Center in New York. Dr. Sher is also the recipient of two grants from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and a grant from the Lightfighter Trust Foundation.
The Expertscape medical professionals rating company sent the following tweet on September 10, 2019, at 10:50 am EDT: “September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. So congratulations to Dr. Leo Sher of Mount Sinai New York — Recognized as an Expertscape World Expert in Suicide.” Expertscape has informed Dr. Sher that Expertscape’s algorithms place Dr. Sher in the top 0.1% of scholars writing about Suicide over the past 10 years, a level Expertscape labels as “World Expert.” On September 10, 2021, the Expertscape tweeted: “As part of World Suicide Prevention Day (Sep 10, 2021), we congratulate Dr. Leo Sher of Mount Sinai New York — Recognized as an Expertscape World Expert in Suicide.”
Dr. Sher’s interests in the natural sciences date from his early teenage years. He was awarded the Gold Medal upon graduation from High School, and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Ukrainian National Medical University in Kiev, Ukraine.
Dr. Sher did his Residency in Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York and the National Institute of Mental Health Program in Bethesda, Maryland. He completed a Research Fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Sher is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Currently, Dr. Sher is Director of Inpatient Psychiatry at the James J. Peters Veterans’ Administration Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Sher is also Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In the past, Dr. Sher was affiliated with the New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City, the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC, and Hillside Hospital, a division of the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, the Long Island Campus for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.
Dr. Sher has experience as a forensic psychiatric expert and consultant. He worked on health care, immigration, and criminal cases.
Dr. Sher is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.
In his leisure time, Dr. Sher has many interests. He enjoys traveling and is interested in politics, history, geography, and sociology.