Jeffery N. Wilkins, MD is Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai. Dr. Wilkins is also Medical Director of Addiction Medicine and Director of Addiction Studies within the department's Clinical Trials Unit. In addition, he is the Program Director for the ACGME-approved Fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry, and he serves as Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dr. Wilkins' research interests include pharmacotherapy of patients with substance abuse problems and/or mental illness, the pharmacokinetics of abused substances and the identification of biological markers for psychiatric disorders. His investigations have received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Veterans Administration. Dr. Wilkins is also evaluating innovating techniques in substance abuse prevention in adolescents and children, including the use of health-oriented video games.
A board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Wilkins is a diplomate of the American Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, from which he has also received added qualifications in addiction psychiatry. He is a Distinquished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is certified by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He has written articles for numerous peer-reviewed publications, including the American Journal of Psychiatry, Archives of General Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, California Pediatrician and the Journal of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
Dr. Wilkins received his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. After studying neurology at Queen Square and St. Pancras Hospitals in London, he completed a medical internship at UCSD School of Medicine and a psychiatry residency at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.
