Ragy R Girgis, MD, MS
Overview
Ragy Girgis, MD, MS, is a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is an expert in psychosis (e.g., schizophrenia), violence in mental illness, and mass murder/shootings. Dr. Girgis often conducts studies involving MRI, PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and clinical trials, and is the curator of the Columbia Mass Murder Database.
Dr. Girgis has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers in these fields and numerous books on severe mental illness, including a recent book on the interface between religion and psychiatry, “On Satan, Demons, and Psychiatry: Exploring Mental Illness in the Bible” published by Wipf and Stock.
Dr. Girgis has received grant support as Principal Investigator from the NIMH, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the Dana Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Irving Institute at Columbia University, and numerous other organizations.
Email: rg2290@cumc.columbia.edu
Academic Appointments
- Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Administrative Titles
- Director, The Center of Prevention and Evaluation (COPE), New York State Psychiatric Institute
- Research Scientist V, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, New York State Psychiatric Institute
- Research Psychiatrist II, New York State Psychiatric Institute
Hospital Affiliations
- NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Gender
- Male
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Location(s)
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
- Residency: New York State Psychiatric Institute/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center
- Fellowship: New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Medical Center
Board Certifications
- Psychiatry
Honors & Awards
2024 -- NRM2024 International Scientific Advisory Board
2023 -- Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
2018 -- NAMI NYS Excellence in Research Award
2016-2023 -- Associate Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
2015 -- NARSAD Young Investigator Award
2009 -- Laughlin Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists
2003 -- Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) Medical Honor Society
Research
Selected Publications
Ragy R. Girgis, R. Tyler Rogers, Hannah Hesson, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Paul S. Appelbaum, Gary Brucato. Mass Murders Involving Firearms and Other Methods in School, College & University Settings: Findings from the Columbia Mass Murder Database. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2023 68(1):207-211.
Gary Brucato, Paul S. Appelbaum, Hannah Hesson, Eileen A. Shea, Gabriella Dishy, Kathryn Lee, Tyler Pia, Faizan Syed, Alexandra Villalobos, Melanie M. Wall, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Ragy R. Girgis. Psychotic Symptoms in Mass Shootings vs. Mass Murders Not Involving Firearms: Findings from the Columbia Mass Murder Database. Psychological Medicine, 2021 Feb 17:1-9.
Ragy R. Girgis, Mark Slifstein, Gary Brucato, Lawrence S. Kegeles, Tiziano Colibazzi, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Anissa Abi-Dargham. Imaging Synaptic Dopamine Availability in Individuals at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis: a [11C]-(+)-PHNO PET with Methylphenidate Challenge Study. Molecular Psychiatry, 2021 Jun;26(6):2504-2513.
Ragy R. Girgis, Adam Ciarleglio, Tse Choo, Gregory Haynes, Joan M. Bathon, Serge Cremers, Joshua T. Kantrowitz, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Alan S. Brown. A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial of Tocilizumab, an Interleukin-6 Receptor Antibody, for Residual Symptoms in Schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2018 May;43(6):1317-1323.
Gary Brucato, Paul S. Appelbaum, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Melanie M. Wall, Tianshu Feng, Michael D. Masucci, Rebecca Altschuler, Ragy R. Girgis. A Longitudinal Study of Violent Behavior in a Psychosis-Risk Cohort. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2018 Jan;43(2):264-271.
Gary Brucato, Michael D. Masucci, Leigh Y. Arndt, Shelly Ben-David, Tiziano Colibazzi, Cheryl M. Corcoran, Alexander H. Crumbley, Francesca M. Crump, Kelly E. Gill, David Kimhy, Amanda Lister, Scott A. Schobel, Lawrence H. Yang, Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Ragy R. Girgis. Baseline demographics, clinical features and predictors of conversion among 200 individuals in a longitudinal prospective psychosis-risk cohort. Psychological Medicine, 2017 Aug;47(11):1923-1935.
Ragy R. Girgis, Mark Slifstein, Deepak D’Souza MBBS, Yih Lee, Antonia Periclou, Parviz Ghahramani, István Laszlovszky, Suresh Durgam, Nika Adham, Nabeel Nabulsi, Yiyun Huang, Richard E. Carson, Béla Kiss, Margit Kapás, Anissa Abi-Dargham, Ashok Rakhit.Preferential Binding to Dopamine D3 over D2 Receptors by Cariprazine in Patients With Schizophrenia Using PET With the D3/D2 Receptor Ligand [11C]-(+)-PHNO. Psychopharmacology, 2016 Oct;233(19-20):3503-12.
Ragy R. Girgis, Michael R. Phillips, Xiaodong Li, Kejing Li, Huiping Jiang, Chengjing Wu, Naihua Duan, Yajuan Niu, Jeffrey A. Lieberman. Clozapine vs chlorpromazine in treatment-naïve, first-episode schizophrenia: 9 year follow-up results from a randomized clinical trial. British Journal of Psychiatry, 2011 Oct;199(4):281-8.
Jeffrey A. Lieberman, Scott A. Small, Ragy R Girgis. Early Detection and Preventive Intervention in Schizophrenia: From Fantasy to Reality. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2019 Oct 1;176(10):794-810.
Poels EMP, Kegeles LS, Kantrowitz JT, Slifstein M, Javitt DC, Lieberman JA, Abi-Dargham A, Girgis RR. Imaging Glutamate In Schizophrenia: review of findings and implications for drug discovery. Molecular Psychiatry, 2014 Jan;19(1):20-9.