David Feifel, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
University of California, San Diego
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 Bachelors of Science, Master’s Degree and a Ph.D.(neurobiology) from the University of Toronto, Canada, where he also earned a Medical Degree. 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 in which he currently holds the rank of full Professor. He is also a faculty member in the UCSD Neurosciences Graduate Program. Dr. Feifel is the Director of the Adult Psychiatric Services at UCSD Medical Center, and the senior attending psychiatrist on the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Inpatient Unit (NBMU). In addition to being a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General Psychiatry, he is also certified in the subspecialties Psychosomatic Medicine, and Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry. He has authored or co-authored numerous original scientific research papers, abstracts and book chapters.

Research Focus (See Dr. Feifel Research)
Dr. Feifel engages in translational research related to biological treatments for mental illness. He runs a basic neuropsychopharmacology laboratory on the campus of the UCSD Medical Center. His laboratory develops animal models to explore the biological mechanisms underlying psychiatric conditions such as psychosis and to assess the potential of novel pharmacological treatments, particularly ones aimed at neuropeptide targets.

Dr. Feifel also heads a clinical neuropharmacology research program at UCSD Medical Center. Among other things, this program evaluates the safety and efficacy of approved and investigational psychotropic medications for a large variety of psychiatric indications and, when possible, translates findings from his basic neuropharmacology research program to clinical investigations. Dr. has served as principal investigator in numerous clinical 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, the Stanley Medical Research Institute and the National Institutes of Health.

Clinical Focus 
Dr. Feifel’s clinical focus is the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders stressing a biological orientation. He is Director of the Adult Psychiatric Services at UCSD Medical Center, which includes the Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit (NBMU), an 18-bed inpatient unit and the Consult / Liaison service. The Psychiatry service at UCSD Medical Center, was ranked among the nations best by US News and World Report in 2008. Dr. Feifel is founder and Director of the UCSD Adult ADHD Program. In addition to seeing patients, Dr. Feifel lectures and/or supervises medical students, residents and fellows in psychiatry and neurology at UCSD. He 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.

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
• 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, Farber, RH, Clementz, BA, et al. (2004). Inhibitory deficits in ocular motor behavior in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 56(5), 333-9.
• Feifel, D, Melendez, G, & Shilling, PD. (2004). Reversal of sensorimotor gating deficits in Brattleboro rats by acute administration of clozapine and a neurotensin agonist, but not haloperidol: a potential predictive model for novel antipsychotic effects. Neuropsychopharmacology, 29(4), 731-8.