Bio — Scientific Advisory Board member

Gary S. Belkin, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Dr. Belkin is a psychiatrist who currently serves as Deputy Director of Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital and as Associate Professor, New York University School of Medicine. He joins this experience with a doctorate in history in an interest in the factors that shape how knowledge about the brain, mind, and consciousness evolves, is used, and is socially contexted. He has published work on the nature of ethics in medicine, the uses and contexts of mind-brain constructions in medicine and society, the impact and meanings of the idea of social psychiatry, and is completing a book manuscript exploring the history of the idea of brain-death and mid-20th century management of severe coma.

Over the years, he has held several leadership positions overseeing public psychiatry and forensic services and he routinely testifies in forensic cases. He has particular experience in the historical context of medical patents, mental health theories, and ethical issues. His residency was at Massachusetts General Hospital and he has held an appointment at Harvard Medical School for many years. Dr. Belkin also works with the United Nations on international mental health rights.

In addition to serving as a scientific advisor for IBRF, Dr. Belkin is the foundation's official historian as well.

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