Richard G. Hersh, MD

Special Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons

Faculty, Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research

Dr. Richard Hersh is a Special Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a faculty member of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He received his undergraduate B.A. degree in History from Stanford University and his M.D. degree from George Washington University. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at Northwestern University and earned a certificate in psychoanalytic training from the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.

Dr. Hersh was an attending psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospitals while an Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School before coming to Columbia University Medical Center where he was a psychiatrist on the inpatient service before serving for fifteen years as the Associate Director of the Department of Psychiatry’s Intensive Outpatient Program.

Dr. Hersh has been trained in Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) for treatment of personality disorders and has fulfilled the requirements for Teacher and Supervisor status for TFP. Dr. Hersh has also been trained in Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorder (GPM) and has fulfilled the requirements of Official Trainer status for GPM. Dr. Hersh teaches both TFP and GPM in the Columbia Psychiatry residency curriculum in both required and elective courses.

Dr. Hersh serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder (NEA-BPD). He is the first author of the textbook “Fundamentals of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy: Applications in Psychiatric and Medical Settings” published in 2017 by Springer.

Dr. Hersh has received awards for teaching and program development from the Columbia University Psychiatry Residency and the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research.