Neuropsychiatry Consultants: 7

Lawrence Amsel, MD, MPH, is Board Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology. An Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and an Attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York, NY, he specializes in:

Evidence Based Psychotherapy for Anxiety Disorders - PTSD - Psychological Sequelae of Terrorism

With an MD from Yale University and an MPH in Biostatistics from Columbia University, Dr. Amsel combined his clinical expertise with his analytic mathematics background to become one of the early champions of the application of Decision Science, Game Theory, and Behavioral Economics to Psychiatric Research. 

Dr. Amsel has published numerous articles and delivered presentations, symposia, and workshops on Behavioral Economics and Game Theory and other topics on Mathematical Psychiatry. His speaking services are in demand both nationally and internationally. Dr. Amsel will contribute to the proposed study, “Adolescent and Family Decision Making In Time of Disaster,” as Co-Principal Investigator and will serve as the team expert on decision tasks, helping to incorporate the selected tasks into the overall study design. He will be involved in supervising the collection of data related to these tasks and will help guide study design, data collection and analysis, and assist in the interpretation and publication of research findings. 

In 2003, Dr. Amsel organized the first ever American Psychiatric Association symposium on applications of Game Theory to psychiatry. He has published articles and presented posters on Game Theory modeling of suicide, OCD, and PTSD. After 9/11, Dr. Amsel joined the Trauma Studies and Services division at the New York Psychiatric Institute, and has been involved in treating victims of 9/11 and their families, in training community clinicians in cutting edge treatments for PTSD and Complicated (Traumatic) Grief, as well as in doing research on optimal methods of disseminating this training. 

Over the last several years, Dr. Amsel has been collaborating with Dr. Hoven at the Child Psychiatric Epidemiology Group (CPEG) working on understanding the connection between decision deficits, trauma and psychiatric disorders in the developing brain of children/adolescents. He has extensive clinical expertise within psychiatric research, as well as expertise in applying decision science tasks in psychiatric research settings.

View Dr. Amsel's Expert Witness Profile.

Gregory P. Brown, MD, is a is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and specializes in the fields of adult Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry. His private office is dedicated to the practice of Forensic Psychiatry, and includes evaluations for matters in civil court, criminal court, family court, and independent psychiatric evaluations.

Dr. Brown is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry, and the Residency Training Program Director at the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Medicine. He founded the Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and has been the Residency Training Director since the time of the first entering class in 2004, under the UNRSOM.

Litigation Support - Dr. Brown has extensive experience in medico-legal work. As a Board Certified Forensic Psychiatrist, he has worked in diverse areas of this subspecialty of psychiatry. Dr. Brown offers litigations support services to attorneys for Plaintiff and Defendant.

Services include Disability Evaluations, Estate Planning Capacity Evaluations, Independent Psychiatric Evaluations, Medical Board Evaluations, Fitness for Duty Evaluations, Department of Energy Fitness Evaluations, Social Security Appeals Record Reviews, and Independent File Reviews for Medical Necessity and for Disability Claims.

Forensic Experience Includes:

• Criminal Court Evaluations - Competence to Stand Trial, Assessment of Criminal Responsibility, NGRI Assessments
• Civil Court Evaluations - Personal Injury with Psychiatric symptoms, Brain Injury with Psychiatric symptoms, Malpractice related questions
• Family Court Evaluations - Involuntary Commitment, Guardianship, Testamentary Capacity, Undue Influence, Contractual Capacity, Fitness to Parent, Child Custody
• Third Party Forensic Evaluations - Fitness for Duty, Return to Work, Disability, ADA Accommodations, Medical Necessity, Independent Psychiatric Evaluations

A senior clinical faculty member at Harvard Medical School, Harold J. Bursztajn, M.D., is active in patient care in medical, psychiatric and judicial education nationally. He is qualified in both state and federal courts and is nationally recognized as a distinguished impartial, clinical, ethical and forensic expert to P/D attorneys and institutions. Individual and multispecialty team consultations available.

• Informed Consent & Malpractice
• Employment Litigation: ADA, Disability, Sexual Misconduct Discrimination, Worker's Compensation
• Emotional & Physical Damages: Conscious Pain & Suffering, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Neuropsychiatry & Pain Imaging
• Standards For Experts
• Product Liability: Medical Devices & Pharmaceuticals, Toxic Tort
• Criminal Justice & Public Safety: Diminished Capacity, Drug Addiction, Competency to Confess, Death Penalty Mitigation, Workplace Safety
• Family & Custody Issues
• Testamentary & Contractual Capacity
• Professional & Organizational Ethics: Patient Care, Managed Care, Privacy
• Psychoanalysis & Cultural Perspectives

Jeffrey A. Sugar, MD has been a practicing Psychiatrist for over 25 years. Board certified both in Child and General Psychiatry, Dr. Sugar is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trauma Program at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, CA.

Dr. Sugar is Attending Psychiatrist in both Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics at USC. He teaches child and general psychiatrists-in-training and medical students on topics ranging from Trauma, Adversity, and Dissociation to Psychotherapy theory and methods.

Dr. Sugar was the founding director of the Hathaway Children’s Clinical Research Institute where he performed funded research on the effects of interpersonal child trauma. Dr. Sugar has presented at national and international meetings on child and adolescent Trauma and Dissociation.

Consulting Services Include:

• Effects of Trauma and Adversity on Child Development
• Chronic Physical, Sexual or Emotional Abuse
• Psychological Trauma in the Workplace
• Date Rape / Internet Seduction
• Post-Traumatic Loss, Grief and Depression
• Psychological Effects of Injury to the Body or Brain
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Professional Organizations:

American Psychiatric Association Southern California Psychiatric Society American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Southern California Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies American Society of Clinical Hypnosis

View Dr. Sugar's Expert Witness Profile.

Bankole A. Johnson, DSc, MD, MBChB, MPhil, FRCPsych, DFAPA, Dip-ABAM, Dip-ABDA, FACFEI, is a leading Neuroscientist and respected global authority in both Psychiatry and Neuroscience. His considerable education and expertise dates to the 1970s, when he received his first general studies diplomas.

Dr. Johnson earned his Medicinae Baccalaureum et Chirurgiae Baccalaureum (an M.D. equivalent) from the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He also received his UK Board Certification in Psychiatry from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, his Master of Philosophy in Neuropsychiatry at the University of London, his Doctorate in Medicine from the University of Glasgow (coursework at the University of Oxford). He also received a Doctor of Science from the University of Glasgow, the highest doctoral degree that can be awarded by a British university.

In addition to these qualifications, Dr. Johnson has also received United States certifications from both the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and the American Board of Addiction Medicine.

Today, Bankole Johnson is a board-certified psychiatrist and physician throughout both Europe and the United States. He serves as a respected collegiate authority in his field at a leading university in the United States. Dr. Johnson is a leading authority on the effects of abused drugs including alcohol on the brain and how this affects behavior, especially that related to the commission of a crime. He is a national expert on the treatment of opioid addiction as well as on assessing medical malpractice and insurance claims. Dr. Johnson also is a national expert on the effects of diseases of the brain, mental illness, mental disorder, and aberrant behaviors on testamentary capacity. He also is a national expert on assessing disability as a result of mental disorder, mental illness, and alcohol and drug abuse.

Along the way, Bankole Johnson has also been the recipient of numerous high-profile awards in his fields and industries of specialty. In 2001, he received the Dan Anderson Research Award for his research contributions focused on “the scientific knowledge of addiction recovery.” He won the 2002 Distinguished Senior Scholar of Distinction Award from the National Medical Association and a 2006 Distinguished Lecturer Award from the American Psychiatric Association. In 2008, Dr. Johnson became a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. From 2010, he has been a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Johnson won the prestigious NIH Jellinek Award in 2013 for his scientific advances and discoveries in the field of addiction medicine. He is also the Editor of one of the largest and most comprehensive textbooks in the field: Addiction Medicine: Science and Practice, published by Springer.

View Dr. Johnson's Expert Witness Profile.

Sanjay Adhia, MD, MRO, is triple-Board-Certified in Psychiatry, Brain Injury Medicine and Forensic Psychiatry. In addition to forensic/expert witness practice, Dr. Adhia has provided patient care in the Houston area. Currently, he is a neuropsychiatrist at Memorial Herman TIRR where he treats those with brain injury, stroke, and other neurological injuries. His forensic practice focuses on the psychiatric impact of personal injury, medical malpractice, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, competency, violence, and complicating mental illness, as well as psychiatric disability. 

Dr. Adhia is among one of the few Forensic Psychiatrists who is also Board-Certified in Brain Injury Medicine. Often, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can be a major factor in litigation as it can result in psychiatric or neurocognitive impairments. He has expertise in psychopharmacology, the medicine of medication. 

In addition, Dr. Adhia works with Physicians for Human Rights to assess victims of kidnapping and false imprisonment, human trafficking, undue influence, physical and sexual abuse, rape, and fear of imminent death. In all populations, he assesses PTSD, Anxiety, Depressive Disorders, risk of suicide, and malingering. He is experienced in the treatment and impact of drug and alcohol abuse on decision-making. Dr. Adhia has also treated severe psychosis (Schizophrenia, hallucinations) and psychopathology. Dr. Adhia was formerly treating patients at a Maximum Security Prison and prison psychiatric hospital. He has treated Opioid Use Disorders. 

Dr. Adhia’s findings consider complicating factors, such as emotional distress worsened by other active physical and mental conditions. Other factors are pre-existing mental and physical illness, competency and capacity (e.g. dementia, Intellectual Disability.) As a physician, Dr. Adhia is uniquely qualified to review medical records and doctor reports. Institutional medicine, medical malpractice, and standard of care apply to both public and private facilities, including government, regulated correctional institutions, and psychiatric hospitals. Dr. Adhia is skilled in these med-legal issues. He conducts Independent Medical Examinations, review of records, and reports his med-legal findings and opinions. He is available to testify in civil, criminal, probate, Federal, Immigration, military, and administrative jurisdictions.

Elliott M. Stein, MD is a Geriatric Psychiatrist with over 45 years of experience caring for the elderly. Dr. Stein is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General Psychiatry (October, 1979) and Geriatric Psychiatry (April, 1991; Re-Certified, December, 2001, April, 2011, December 2022). He is licensed in California and Florida. Dr. Stein was the Director of Psychiatry at the Jewish Home of San Francisco from 2010-2020, and the Medical Director of their Geriatric Psychiatry Hospital. He has treated older individuals, typically people who have complex combination of psychiatric and medical problems. Dr. Stein has been a Member of the Task Force on Testamentary Capacity and Undue Influence, for the International PsychoGeriatric Association.

Dr. Stein is a Clinical Professor (Voluntary) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and a Life Member of the International PsychoGeriatric Association.

He is available to serve as an Expert Witness, do legal and forensic consultation, record review, and assessments concerning Psychiatric issues in Older Individuals. Dr. Stein offers his services to attorneys for both Plaintiff or Defense.

Consulting Specialties:

• Contested Wills and Trusts
• Testamentary Capacity, Undue Influence, Insane Delusions
• Geriatric Competence/Capacity
• Financial Elder Abuse
• Dementia and Delirium, Alzheimer’s Disease
• Geriatric Psychiatry Evaluation and Treatment, Psychiatric Medication, Psychotherapeutic Issues
• Depression and Anxiety Disorders
• Relationship Problems between the Elderly and their Adult Children
• Aging and Mental Disorders
• Geriatric Psychiatry issues concerning Hospitals, Nursing Homes, Independent and Assisted Living Facilities
• Medicare Psychiatric Services Coding and Documentation

View Dr. Stein's Expert Witness Profile.