Robert L. Trestman, Ph.D., M.D.

Candidate for 2023 President-Elect

A Message from the Candidate

Biography

Robert Lee Trestman Ph.D., M.D. joined Carilion Clinic and the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in April 2017 as Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine.

Dr. Trestman was appointed to the Council on Healthcare Systems and Financing (CHSF) in 2018 and was subsequently appointed as Chair of that CHSF in 2020. Previously, Dr. Trestman served as an active member on the Council on Psychiatry and Law, including years chairing the Workgroup on Correctional Psychiatry (2013- 2019). During that tenure, he led the development of multiple position statements and resource documents, including the 2016 APPI publication, Psychiatric Services in Correctional Facilities, Third Edition. Dr. Trestman has served on APA Presidential Taskforces (2019-20, Interprofessional Collaboration; 2020-2022, Psychiatric Inpatient Bed Capacity). He also served as a member of the Committee on Psychiatric Dimensions of Disasters on COVID-19 (2020-2021). He is routinely engaged as a spokesperson for the APA on a variety of topics advocating for our patients and our profession given his role on the CHSF. He also serves as the Liaison between the APA and the American Hospital Association.

Dr. Trestman previously was a tenured professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine with a joint appointment as Professor of Nursing. He served as executive director of Correctional Managed Health Care (CHMC), a division of the University of Connecticut Health Center. In this role, he led a health system that provided global health care to all inmates within the Connecticut Department of Correction. Prior to that, he served in numerous academic and leadership roles at the University of Connecticut, Mount Sinai Medical Center, and the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Dr. Trestman has lectured and consulted nationally and internationally, authored or coauthored over 180 peer reviewed articles, book chapters, and commentaries, and is the senior editor of the Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry, which received the 2016 Guttmacher Award. His interests include mental health services research and the treatment of people with severe mood and personality disorders. Dr. Trestman is the co-developer of START NOW, a skills-based psychotherapy in use in five countries. Dr. Trestman has given over 150 regional, national, and international invited presentations. Dr. Trestman is the immediate past Chair of the American Hospital Association’s Committee on Behavioral Health and chairs the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry’s Clinical Enterprise Committee. He serves on the Board of the Bradley Free Clinic in Roanoke VA and is Chair of its Behavioral Health Committee. Dr. Trestman sits on the Western Virginia Division of the US District Drug Court as the Expert Medical Consultant.

Education

• B.S. in Chemistry and Psychology: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA
• Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology: University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN
• M.D. University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, Memphis TN
• Residency: The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York NY
• Research Fellowship: The Bronx VAMC and The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York NY

Awards and Honors

• Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society (2020)
• NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award (2020)
• Harry Stack Sullivan Award Lecturer at Sheppard Pratt (2020)
• American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Manfred S. Guttmacher Award (2016)

Endorsements

• Carol L. Alter, M.D.
  Associate Chair, Clinical Integration and Operations
  Professor of Psychiatry
  Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin
• Frank Clark, M.D.
  Outpatient Adult Psychiatrist, Greer Center for Psychiatry
  Clinical Associate Professor
  University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville
• Gregory W. Dalack, M.D.
  Chair, Department of Psychiatry
  Daniel E. Offutt III Professor of Psychiatry
  University of Michigan Medical School
• Charles Dike, FRCPsych, MBChB, MPH
  Associate Professor of Psychiatry
  Co-Director, Law and Psychiatry Division,
  Department of Psychiatry
  Yale University School of Medicine
  Medical Director, Commissioner's Office, Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
• Shabana Khan, M.D.
  Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
  Director of Child and Adolescent Telepsychiatry
  NYU Grossman School of Medicine
• Howard Y. Liu, M.D., MBA
  Professor with Tenure
  Chair, Department of Psychiatry
  University of Nebraska College of Medicine
• Richard Martinez, M.D., MH
  Robert D. Miller Professor of Forensic Psychiatry
  Director, Forensic Psychiatry Services and Training
  University of Colorado at Anschutz Medical Center
• Jimmy Potash, M.D., MPH
  Henry Phipps Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
  Department Director and Psychiatrist-in-Chief
  Johns Hopkins Medicine
• Mark Russ, M.D.
  Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
  Weill Cornell Medical College
  Vice Chair of Clinical Programs and Medical Director
  New York-Presbyterian/Westchester Behavioral Health
• Arpan Wagray, M.D.
  Chief Executive
  Well Being Trust