UCSD Profiles

search, discover, network

Biography

Dilip V. Jeste, M.D. is the Associate Dean for Healthy Aging and Senior Care, Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging, Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, at University of California San Diego. He obtained his medical education in Pune, and psychiatry training in Mumbai, India. In the US, he completed psychiatry residency at Cornell, and neurology residency at George Washington University. He was a research fellow, and later, Chief of the Units on Movement Disorders and Dementias at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) before joining UC San Diego. He started a Geriatric Psychiatry program from scratch at UC San Diego; today it is one of the largest Geriatric Psychiatry Divisions in the world. Dr. Jeste has been Principal Investigator on a number of research and training grants. His main areas of research include schizophrenia, neuropsychiatric interventions, and successful aging. He has published 12 books, 625+ articles in peer-reviewed journals and 140+ invited book chapters. He is Past President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry, and Founding President of International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology. Dr. Jeste is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and was a member of the NIMH Advisory Council and the NIH Council of Councils. He is Past Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry; under his leadership the Journal grew from a modest-impact quarterly to a monthly with the highest Impact Factor among all the Geriatric Psychiatry journals internationally. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of International Psychogeriatrics. He was listed in “The Best Doctors in America” and in the Institute of Scientific Information list of the “world's most cited authors”--comprising fewer than 0.5% percent of all publishing researchers of previous two decades. Dr. Jeste has received many awards including NIMH’s MERIT Award; Commendation for Dedicated Service from the Veterans Affairs; Asian Heritage Award for Excellence in Science, Technology, and Research; and awards from Society of Biological Psychiatry; APA; Institute of Living; American College of International Physicians; National Alliance on Mental Illness; National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders; American College of Psychiatrists; International Psychogeriatric Association; Universities of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Maryland, and Cornell. He has also received Honorary Fellowship, the highest honor it bestows, from UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists; and Honorary Professorship from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru. He was recently a TEDMED speaker. His work has been cited in the Time, Atlantic, NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, London Times, Public Radio International, NPR, and various other national and international media outlets.


Research Interests

Dr. Jeste’s primary areas of research are psychosis and its treatment in late life, and successful cognitive aging. He has conducted studies of clinical, neuropsychological and neurobiological characteristics of late-onset schizophrenia, aging of early-onset schizophrenia patients, and psychosis of Alzheimer’s disease. In terms of treatments, he has published on therapeutic and adverse effects (including metabolic syndrome) of antipsychotics. He has also been interested in psychosocial treatments as well as certain bioethical aspects of research (particularly decision making capacity and methods for enhancing it) among older people with psychotic disorders. In recent years, he has been seeking to understand mechanisms involved in successful cognitive aging (including wisdom) at both psychological and neurobiological levels.

Clinical Focus

Dr. Jeste started the Geriatric Psychiatry program at UCSD in 1986. Two key components of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry are Senior Behavioral Health program (with inpatient unit and outpatient clinic) at UCSD Medical Center, and Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic at VA San Diego Healthcare System. Both these multi-disciplinary programs serve older persons with various neuropsychiatric disorders including dementia, depression, schizophrenia, alcohol and substance use disorders, and anxiety disorders. Patients receive psychiatric, medical and neuropsychologic assessments. Treatments include pharmacotherapy, psychosocial therapy, and family education/therapy with caregivers. There are also several training programs in geriatric mental health for fellows, medical students, and high-school students.