Eric Wexler, MD, PhD

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Get to know Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Wexler, who serves patients in Santa Monica, California.

Dr. Wexler is a trusted psychiatrist who provides diagnostic evaluations and ongoing treatment to patients suffering from a broad range of psychiatric conditions. His private practice is conveniently located in Santa Monica, California. 

Guided by the principles of evidence-based medicine, Dr. Wexler treats a broad range of psychiatric disorders, including bipolar affective disorder, unipolar major depression, neuropsychiatry, impulse control disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, opiate addiction (Suboxone), and personalized medicine & genomics. Moreover, he has substantial clinical experience managing complex neuropsychiatric syndromes, particularly in those individuals with a coexisting neurologic disease. Related to this clinical expertise, he has published extensively in the fields of developmental neurobiology, neuropharmacology, and neurogenetics. He is also the Medical Director of the Resilience Treatment Center for Mental Health in Los Angeles.

Pertaining to his educational background, Dr. Wexler graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College with a degree in biochemistry, before entering medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. During his medical schooling, he undertook research in nerve cell development and neurotransmitter function, for which he was awarded both a medical degree (MD) and a doctorate in neurobiology (PhD). Next, he completed his residency within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stanford University. He received his primary psychotherapy training with Dr. David Burns, best-selling author and early popularizer of cognitive-behavioral therapy. 

Thereafter, he pursued specialized fellowship training in psychopharmacology and neuronal regeneration at Stanford under the auspices of Dr. Alan Schatzberg, former President of the American Psychiatric Association and Co-Author of the official APA Textbook of Psychopharmacology. During this period, he also served as an attending physician in the Emergency Department of San Francisco General Hospital/UCSF. He later completed a research fellowship in neurobehavioral genetics at UCLA, before joining the full-time academic faculty of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics.

Prior to entering private practice, Dr. Wexler was engaged in both clinic care and basic science research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. There, his clinical activities included an outpatient clinic that emphasized mood and impulse control disorders, providing psychiatric consultation for patients with often rare, inherited or autoimmune forms of neurodegeneration. Complementing these clinical efforts, his research agenda focused on the following areas: (1) understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of common mood stabilizers like lithium; (2) developing novel experimental models of neuropsychiatric disease (e.g. dementia or autism), primarily using human neural stem cells; and (3) developing and applying novel network (“big data”) analytic methods to the problem of understanding the signals that govern early nerve cell development, and how these contribute to brain dysfunction. 

Devoted to his speciality, the doctor is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, which is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to promoting high quality patient care for the public through the initial and continuing certification of psychiatrists and neurologists. In addition, he has provided discreet consultation services to individuals or organizations in the television, print media, legal, and investment banking communities.

Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behavior, cognition, and perceptions. Psychiatrists evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients with mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. They conduct thorough psychiatric evaluations, develop treatment plans, prescribe medication, and evaluate treatment results.

An authority in his field, Dr. Wexler has been the recipient of several awards and honors throughout his fruitful career, including Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2014, 2015, 2018), On-Time Doctor Award (2015), and Patients’ Choice Award (2018).

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