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Nina Cerfolio, MD, Psychiatry, New York, NY

Nina Estelle Cerfolio MD DFAPA FACLP

Psychosomatic Medicine, Integrative Psychiatry


Assistant Clinical Professor of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Associate Attending Mount Sinai Beth Isreal Medical Center

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  • 2 5th AveSuite 5New York, NY 10011

  • Phone+1 917-974-1336

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Summary

  • Nina E. Cerfolio MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is an nationally recognized expert on trauma and terrorism and is a board certified psychiatrist in New York City. She was Chief of the Psychiatric Emergency Room and Walk-in Clinic at St Vincent's Hospital. In practice for 30+ years, Dr Nina Cerfolio’s success rests in her unique approach, which integrates traditional psychiatric training with her decades of spiritual training. She is an advocate for the marginalized and an active writer, speaker, and humanitarian advocating mindful psychiatry transcending emotional suffering.
        Nina has been featured on national TV and international news outlets: The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The Detroit News, Psychology Today, NBC, CBS, and PBS as a mental health expert in transforming adversity, National Geographic Adventure for winning the Half Marathon on the Great Wall of China, the Daily News for her humanitarian work during the Chechen genocide, and the Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan’s national daily newspaper) for her work as a first responder at Ground Zero. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals and presented her original work on the psychological influences of trauma and terrorism in national/international venues. Her book, Psychoanalytic and Spiritual Perspectives on Terrorism: Desire for destruction (Routledge), includes her team’s national award winning and cutting edge new research and her first-hand experiences of being a first responder. Dr Nina Cerfolio is honored to be named one of Castle Connolly Top Doctors, an America’s Most Honored - Top 1%, NY Times, Top National Physician, Leading Physicians of the World, America’s Top Psychiatrist, Top Psychiatrists in New York, and has received Patient’s Choice Awards, America’s Most Compassionate Doctors and an Exceptional Women in Medicine recognition by Castle Connolly. Learn more at ninacerfolioMD.com.

Education & Training

  • New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell Campus)
    New York Presbyterian Hospital (Cornell Campus)Fellowship, Human Sexuality, 1992 - 1993
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
    Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterFellowship, Gynecologic Oncology, 1991 - 1993
  • New York Medical College at St Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center of New York
    New York Medical College at St Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center of New YorkResidency, Psychiatry, 1988 - 1991
  • Eastern Virginia Medical School
    Eastern Virginia Medical SchoolResidency, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1987 - 1988
  • Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
    Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and ScienceClass of 1987
  • Grinnell College
    Grinnell CollegeB.A., French, 1982

Certifications & Licensure

  • CA State Medical License
    CA State Medical License 2013 - 2027
  • NY State Medical License
    NY State Medical License 1990 - 2027
  • Psychiatry
    American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Psychiatry

Awards, Honors, & Recognition

  • Castle Connolly Top Doctor Nationally Castle Connelly, 2018-2025
  • Psychodynamic Psychiatry Journal Price Best Research Paper in last two years 2022- 2023. Psychodynmic Psychiatry, 2022-2023
  • New York Times Top Doctor Nationally CastleConnelly, 2018
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Publications & Presentations

PubMed

Journal Articles

  • A retrospective observational study of psychosocial determinants and psychiatric diagnosis of mass shooters in United States.” Psychodynamic Psychiatry Vol. 50, No. 3 ...  
    Nina E Cerfolio, Ira Glick, Danielle Kamis, Michael Laurence, Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 2/3/2027
  • Preventing Mass Shooters: A Call to Action  
    Cerfolio, N., Directions in Psychiatry, 2024
  • Adolescent School Shootings: Undiagnosed and Untreated Psychiatric Illness.  
    Cerfolio, N., Directions in Psychiatry, 2024
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Books/Book Chapters

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Abstracts/Posters

  • Domestic Mass Shooters and Terrorists: Prevalence of Untreated Psychiatric Illness
    Nina Cerfolio MD, American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 6/2/2021
  • Patient with End Stage Small Cell Lung Cancer
    Cerfolio, N, Psychiatry Service Clinical Conference, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, 1/1/1993

Lectures

  • Adolescent Domestic Mass Shooting: The Need for More Humane Parenting 
    INTERNATIONAL PSYCHOHISTORICAL ASSOCIATION’S 47th ANNUAL CONFERENCE - 6/2/2024
  • Psychiatric Aspects Associated with Domestic Mass Shootings and Terrorism 
    General Session Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association - 4/3/2021
  • Destruction and Survival: Trauma, Terrorism and the Regaining Of Imagination 
    IARPP 17th International Conference: Imagining With Eyes Wide Open Tel Aviv, Israel - 6/20/2019
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Other

  • Dr Cerfolio: Oxford Trial exposes risks of ignoring mental illness in children. 
    Nina E Cerfolio MD, The Washington Post Op Ed
    https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2024/01/30/dr-cerfolio-oxford-trial-exposes-risks-of-ignoring-mental-illness-in-children/72408596007/
    The Washington Post - 1/30/2024
  • Cerfolio, N. (2023) The Only True Revenge for Terrorism is Achieving Peace. Op/Ed The Daily Beast, November 26, 2023. 
    Nina E Cerfolio MD, Op Ed The Daily Beast
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-only-true-revenge-for-terrorism-is-achieving-peace
    New York, NY - 11/26/2023
  • The Parkland Gunman, a Horrific Crime, and Mental Illness. Letter to the Editor New York Times, October 14, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/letters/ja... 
    Nina E Cerfolio MD, The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/letters/jan-6-panel-trump.html#link-5e2ccc1
    New York, NY - 10/14/2022
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Authored Content

  • The shower that stopped a shooting: Why kindness and mental health hold the key to preventing mass violence.May 2025
  • At 45, I didn't know how to love. Then I came eye to eye with a majestic gray whale.April 2025
  • A Prelude to Adult Violence: A Brutal Childhood. Putin's Childhood History: Processing the trauma.April 2024
  • How to Alchemize a Desire for Destruction Into ConnectionApril 2024
  • I Was Poisoned by a Russian Agent A Personal Perspective: The experience of being poisoned posed some paradoxes.April 2024
  • A wake-up call to the necessity of listening to childrenFebruary 2024
  • Ob Ed New York Times The Parkland Gunman, a Horrific Crime and Mental IllnessOctober 2022
  • Through the Eye of a Whale: Surrendering to Find Psychospiritual Meaning10/16/2016
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Press Mentions

  • I didn't know how to love. Then I came eye to eye with a whale.
    I didn't know how to love. Then I came eye to eye with a whale.April 25th, 2025
  • Quoted as Trauma Expert on Adverse Effects on Teen's Mental Health on Overusing Social Media
    Quoted as Trauma Expert on Adverse Effects on Teen's Mental Health on Overusing Social MediaJanuary 18th, 2024
  • Revisiting Mass Shootings and Mental Illness
    Revisiting Mass Shootings and Mental IllnessDecember 11th, 2023
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Grant Support

  • American Cancer Society Clinical Oncology FellowshipAmerican Cancer Society1992–1993

Committees

  • Board Member, Thirteen/WLIW Community Advisory Board 2009 - 2017
  • Board Member, Ethics Committee of NYU Downtown Hospital 2005 - 2013

Research History

  • Clinical ResearcherClinical research of domestic mass shooters and the prevalence of psychiatric illness and other psychiatric variables.2017 - 2021
  • Clinical Assistant ProfessorComparative study of women's self-reporting stress during pregnancy and postpartum across disparate immigrant and socioeconomic strata.1999 - 2019

Professional Memberships

Other Languages

  • French

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