E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., is a research psychiatrist specializing in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness). He is founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center and executive director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, which supports research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He is also a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
From 1976 to 1985, Dr. Torrey was on the clinical staff of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in the treatment of severe psychiatric disorders. From 1988 to 1992, Dr. Torrey directed a study of identical twins with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. His work at the Stanley Medical Research Institute currently includes participating in ongoing collaborative research on viruses and other infectious agents as a cause of these diseases. He has also carried out research in Ireland and Papua New Guinea.
Dr. Torrey was educated at Princeton University (B.A., Magna Cum Laude), McGill University (M.D.), and Stanford University (M.A. in anthropology). He trained in psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Hepracticed general medicine in Ethiopia for two years as a Peace Corps physician, in the South Bronx in an O.E.O. Health Center, and in Alaska in the Indian Health Service. From 1970 to 1975, he was a special assistant to the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
Dr. Torrey is a frequent expert guest on national radio and television and has written innumerable guest opinions for national and regional newspapers and magazines. He received two Commendation Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service, a 1984 Special Families Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a 1991 National Caring Award, a research award from the International Congress of Schizophrenia, a humanitarian award from NARSAD, and a 2005 tribute included in NAMI's 25th Anniversary Celebratory Donor Wall. Born in Utica, New York, in 1937, he is married with two children.
Dr. Torrey has authored 20 books and more than 200 lay and professional papers. His work has been translated into Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German and Chinese.
Courtesy of the Treatment Advocacy Center.