David Feifel, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
UCSD 
200 W. Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103-8218
Phone: (619)543-2827
FAX: (619) 543-3738
Email: dfeifel@ucsd.edu

Biography 
Dr. David Feifel earned a medical degree from the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada where he also earned a Ph.D. in neurobiology. After completing an internship in Internal Medicine at the Toronto General Hospital, Dr. Feifel completed his residency training in Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, where he served as Chief Resident for the UCSD Outpatient Psychiatry Services in 1994. In 1995 he joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at UCSD as an Assistant Professor in Residence. Currently Dr. Feifel is an Associate Professor in Residence in the Department of Psychiatry. He is Director of the Adult Psychiatric Services at UCSD Medical Center, and the senior attending psychiatrist on the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Inpatient Unit (NBMU). Dr. Feifel is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is authored or co-authored over 50 original scientific research papers, abstracts.

Research Focus 
Dr. Feifel runs a basic neuropsychopharmacology laboratory on the campus of the UCSD Medical Center. His laboratory utilizes animal models to explore the biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric conditions such as psychosis and to assess the potential of novel pharmacological treatments, especially neuropeptide-based treatments. Dr. Feifel Research

Dr. Feifel also heads a clinical neuropharmacology research program at UCSD Medical Center. This program evaluates the safety and efficacy of approved and investigational psychotropic medications for a large variety of psychiatric indications. He has served as principal investigator in over thirty multi-center studies evaluating treatments for conditions as diverse as bipolar affective disorder, depression, schizophrenia, insomnia, as well as childhood, adolescent, and adult attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). His research has received funding grants from the National Association for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD), the Scottish Rite Organization, and the National Institutes of Health.

Clinical Focus 
Dr. Feifel’s clinical focus is the pharmacological treatment of psychiatric disorders. He is the Senior Attending Psychiatrist for the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Inpatient Unit (NBMU) at UCSD Medical Center and the Director of the Adult Psychiatric Services, which in addition to the NBMU includes the Consult/Liaison and Emergency Psychiatric Services. Dr. Feifel is founder and Director of the UCSD Adult ADHD Program. In addition to teaching and supervising medical students, residents and Fellows in psychiatry and neurology at UCSD, Dr. Feifel is a national lecturer on topics in psychopharmacology. Among his distinctions, Dr. Feifel is an Associate Member of the American College of Neuropharmacology and a contributor to the Expert Consensus Guidelines for Behavioral Emergencies. In addition, he is an invited member of the Expert Faculty for the National Association for the Advancement of ADHD Care (NAAAC).

Selected Publications

• Feifel D., Reza T.L., Wustrow D., and Davis D.M. Novel Antipsychotic-Like Effects on Prepulse Inhibition of Startle Produced by a Neurotensin Agonist. Journal of Psychopharmacology Experimental Therapeutics 288: 710-713,1999
• Feifel D. Rationale and Guidelines for the Treatment of Acute Psychosis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, (Invited), 61 (Suppl 14):25-31,2000
• Feifel D., Priebe K. and Shilling P. Startle and sensorimotor gating in rats lacking CCK-A receptors. Neuropsychopharmacology. 24:06,2001
• Perry W., Minassian A., Feifel D. and Braff D.L. Sensorimotor gating deficits in bipolar disorder patients with acute psychotic mania. Biological Psychiatry 50:418-424,2001
• Feifel D. and Priebe K. Vasopressin deficient rats exhibit sensorimotor gating deficits that are revised by subchronic haloperidol. Biological Psychiatry, 50: 425-433,2001