Dr. Lewis is an internationally recognized expert on schizophrenia. His research focuses on the neural circuitry of the prefrontal cortex and related brain regions and the alterations of this circuitry in schizophrenia.

He received his medical degree from the Ohio State University, completed residencies in both internal medicine and psychiatry at the University of Iowa, and received his research training at the Research Institute of the Scripps Clinic.

In 1987, Dr. Lewis came to the University of Pittsburgh to join the faculty of the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and establish the Primate Neuroscience Lab. Over the past 30 years, he’s grown the program into the current Translational Neuroscience Program, which now includes 18 faculty members with their own research programs.

Dr. Lewis is the Thomas Detre Professor of Academic Psychiatry and Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Since 2009, he has served as chairman of the Department of Psychiatry, and Director of Research and Medical Director for Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC. In 2016, the University of Pittsburgh appointed Dr. Lewis as Distinguished Professor in recognition of his eminence and outstanding contributions in the fields of Psychiatry and Neuroscience.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Dr. Lewis directs a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Conte Center for Translational Mental Health Research focused on understanding the mechanisms that link the pathology, pathophysiology and clinical features of schizophrenia. He serves as Deputy Editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry and Associate Editor for Neurobiology of Disease.

In 2007, Dr. Lewis was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (recently renamed as the National Academy of Medicine) for his contributions to the advancement of schizophrenia research and his efforts to bring the importance of this major public health issue to the forefront. In addition, he is the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his extensive contributions to the field including the Lieber Prize from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression and the American Psychiatric Association Award for Research in Psychiatry.