CLINICAL PROFESSOR | Psychiatry, DIRECTOR | International Suicide Prevention Program, DIRECTOR | Mount Sinai Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory, DIRECTOR | Galynker Family Center for Bipolar Disorder

Igor Galynker, MD, PhD, is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He serves as Director of the International Suicide Prevention Program, Director of the Mount Sinai Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory, and Director of the Galynker Family Center for Bipolar Disorder.

Dr. Galynker received his PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University and his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed his psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai Medical Center and has since held academic and clinical leadership roles within the Mount Sinai Health System.

In 2006, Dr. Galynker founded what is now the Galynker Family Center for Bipolar Disorder, a clinical and research center dedicated to the treatment of children, adolescents, and adults with mood disorders, with a strong emphasis on family involvement in care. The Center has been recognized as a Center of Excellence and has been featured in major media outlets including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

As Director of the Suicide Prevention Research Laboratory and the International Suicide Prevention Program, Dr. Galynker leads pioneering work focused on identifying the mental and emotional processes that precede suicidal behavior and on developing evidence-based tools for assessing imminent suicide risk. His primary research contribution includes the development of the Suicide Crisis Syndrome, a proposed suicide-specific diagnosis aimed at improving early identification and prevention.

Dr. Galynker’s clinical and research interests include suicide prevention, bipolar disorder, behavioral addictions, and the role of family systems in psychiatric illness. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and the lay press and is the author of a book on family involvement in psychiatric treatment, as well as The Suicidal Crisis: Clinical Guide to the Assessment of Imminent Suicide Risk, 2nd Edition