Ira M. Lesser MD

Dr. Ira M. Lesser was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for 17 years until July 2022, when he stepped down to become more involved in teaching, mentoring, and well-being activities. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and an investigator at The Lundquist Institute. He received his undergraduate education at the State University of New York at Buffalo and his Medical Degree at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He did his psychiatry residency at Harbor-General Hospital (what is now called Harbor-UCLA Medical Center) and has remained at Harbor since completing his residency in 1978.

He is Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Over his career, he has had a variety of administrative and clinical positions, including serving as the Director of the Adult Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, the Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for 18 years, and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry for 17 years. He has been an active investigator since completing his residency, working collaboratively with colleagues and receiving funding from Federal, State, and Industry sources.

Dr. Lesser has published over 125 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in books, mostly in the fields of mood and anxiety disorders, depression in the geriatric age population, and the interface of depression and race/ethnicity. Among other studies, he was involved in the largest United States clinical trial of depression, overseeing his team, which enrolled more subjects than any of the 40 sites across the country, including the highest number of participants from minority backgrounds. More recently, his publications have focused on educational and administrative issues.

He has chaired the Well-Being of Practitioners Committee at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for over 30 years and is active in efforts to address issues of well-being for trainees and staff. He is on the Steering Committee of the Harbor-UCLA Helping Healers Heal (H3) program. He reviews manuscripts for major psychiatric journals, is active in teaching residents, and is a Distinguished Life Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association.

He has been the recipient of several teaching awards from the psychiatry residents at Harbor, received the Outstanding Achievement and President’s Award from the Southern California Psychiatric Society, was an awardee of a UCLA School of Medicine Exceptional Physician Award in 2017, and is a Legend of the Lundquist Institute.