Dr. Petros Levounis, MD

Petros Levounis, MD, MA, is the Director of The Addiction Institute of New York (formerly Smithers) and Chief of Addiction Psychiatry at St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals in New York City. Dr. Levounis is a board-certified addiction psychiatrist and Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He currently teaches at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York University School of Medicine and School of Nursing, and Hazelden Foundation. His academic interests include the psychotherapy and psychopharmacology of addiction, the teaching of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, gay and lesbian mental health, and the behavioral addictions.

Dr. Levounis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he studied chemistry and biophysics as a combined BS/MS student, before receiving his medical education at Stanford and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. During medical school, he studied the effects of social class on the patient-physician …relationship in Oxford, England, and received a masterÂ’s degree in Sociology from Stanford. In 1994, he moved to New York City to train in Psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute of Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia receiving the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award before completing a two-year clinical and research fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at New York University. Dr. Levounis received the APA/Center for Mental Health Services Minority Fellowship and studied HIV risk factors in homeless men who suffer from severe mental illness and substance use disorders. In 2006, Dr. Levounis completed the Leadership Development for Physicians in Academic Health Centers (LDPAHC) Program at Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Levounis has authored several articles, has lectured extensively on addiction topics throughout the United States and abroad, and has been interviewed by ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, WB, The Martha Stewart Radio Show, The New York Times, The Daily News, TimeOut New York, The Washington Post, and Jornal do Brasil among others. He is a Betty Ford Scholar, a member and Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists, and a recipient of several awards including the Irma Bland Award for Excellence in Teaching Residents, the Nancy Roeske Award for Excellence in Medical Student Education, the Association for Academic Psychiatry Junior Faculty Development Award, the Teacher of the Year Award at St. LukeÂ’s and Roosevelt Hospitals, and the U.S. State Department Speaker and Specialist Award.

Dr. Levounis serves as Chair of the Committee on Addiction Treatment of the APA, Vice-Chair of the APA Council on Addiction Psychiatry, President of the APA New York County District Branch, and Co-Chair of the Public Policy Committee of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Dr. Levounis is currently co-authoring a book on siblings of alcoholics and editing a textbook on co-occurring substance use and other psychiatric disorders for addiction counselors.

Hear Dr. Levounis talk about addiction