DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY
Center for Weight and Eating Disorders

Robert I. Berkowitz, M.D.

Robert I. Berkowitz, M.D. is the Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Chair of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and also serves as Executive Director of The Behavioral Health Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he is also the Medical Director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders. Dr. Berkowitz has had a distinguished academic career as a clinician, clinical researcher, educator, and administrator.

He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his M.D. from the University of Connecticut. He completed his adult psychiatry training at the University of Connecticut, his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center, and a research fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Berkowitz's research interests include the etiology of obesity and its treatment. His work has focused on evaluating the efficacy and safety of different modes of treatment, including pharmacological and behavioral approaches. He has also been interested in the development of obesity, assessing the role of feeding behavior, physical activity, and metabolism in infancy and childhood.

Dr. Berkowitz supervises the clinical training of psychiatry residents in the treatment of obesity and eating disorders, behavioral medicine and psychopharmacology.

Dr. Berkowitz serves as a reviewer for a number of journals including the International Journal of Obesity, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Journal of Adolescent Health Care.

Dr. Berkowitz may be contacted at The Behavioral Health Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 3440 Market Street, Suite 410, Philadelphia, PA 19104. He can be reached by e-mail at berkowitz@email.chop.edu.

Recent publications include:

Berkowitz RI, Stallings VA, Maislin G, Stunkard AJ. Growth of children at high risk of obesity during the first 6 y of life: implications for prevention. Am J Clin Nutr ; 81: 140, 2005. May, 2005

Stunkard AJ, Berkowitz RI, Schoeller D, Maislin G, Stallings VA. Determinants of body size in the first two years of life. Int J Obes. 28(4):503-13, 2004.

Berkowitz RI, Wadden TA, Tershakovec AM, Cronquist JL. Behavior therapy and sibutramine for the treatment of adolescent obesity: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA 289;1805-1812, 2003.

Berkowitz RI. Behavior Therapies. The American Psychiatric Textbook of Psychiatry (Eds. Robert E. Hales, Stuart C. Yudofsky, John A. Talbott) 4th Edition. Washington. 2003.

Berkowitz RI, Stunkard AJ. Development of Childhood Obesity. Obesity (Eds. Thomas A. Wadden and Albert J. Stunkard) Third Edition, Raven, 2002; 515-531.