Alejandro (Alex) Kopelowicz, M.D. is Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Medical Director of the San Fernando Mental Health Center (SFMHC), a community mental health center operated by the Department of Mental Health of Los Angeles County and Chief of Psychiatry at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Kopelowicz has been a frequent lecturer on biobehavioral treatment and psychiatric rehabilitation techniques. He has written over 100 articles and book chapters on these subjects.
Dr. Kopelowicz has been the recipient of several grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. His work has focused on culturally adapting evidence-based psychosocial treatment approaches for Hispanic-Americans with serious mental disorders to improve illness self-management, treatment adherence and employment outcomes.
Dr. Kopelowicz was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and immigrated with his family to New York City at a young age. He remains fluent in Spanish, which has been enormously helpful in his work. He graduated from Haverford College with a B.A. in Psychology, and went on to receive his medical education at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey. He completed his psychiatric residency at the UCLA/San Fernando Valley program. He is married and he and his wife have three children.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Kopelowicz A, Zarate R, Wallace CJ, Liberman RP, Lopez SR, Mintz J: The ability of multifamily groups to improve treatment adherence in Mexican Americans with schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 69(3): 265-273, 2012
Kopelowicz A, Zarate R, Wallace CJ, Liberman RP, Lopez SR, Mintz J: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to improve treatment adherence in Mexican Americans with schizophrenia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(5): 985-93, 2015