Dr. Pilowsky is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health (Epidemiology) at Columbia University. Dr Pilowsky, attended medical school in Chile and Argentina. He received his medical degree (University of Buenos Aires) in 1976. Following his arrival to the US he completed an internship (Albert Einstein College of Medicine) in 1978. He proceeded to be trained as a Resident in Psychiatry, and completed a two year fellowship in Child Psychiatry in 1983, both at the State University of N.Y.-Downstate campus in Brooklyn, New York. A few years later he completed his psychoanalytic training at the William A. White institute in New York City. Dr. Pilowsky received an MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1998.

Dr. Pilowsky was involved in full time clinical practice until 1996, when he received a "K" award ("Children of HIV positive parents"). Since then he has dedicated most of his time to his research interests. Dr. Pilowsky research interests have centered in the following areas: (1) Children and families affected by HIV, and HIV prevention interventions; He is currently collaborating with several members of the epidemiology faculty in HIV behavioral prevention research (Drs. Fuller, Susser, and Vlahov) (2) High risk children, focusing primarily on children at high risk for depression; and (3) Child Psychotherapy, focusing primarily on adapting Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for use with depressed school-age children. At this time Dr. Pilowsky is actively involved in grant-funded research in these areas. Dr. Pilowsky is currently collaborating with Dr. Weissman and her research team both in studying the impact of maternal depression remission on children and depressed mothers (multisite study funded by NIMH), and in the above mentioned adaptation of IPT

Area of expertise
mental illness; risk reduction

Recent publications

Pilowsky DJ, Wickramaratne P, Nomura Y, Weissman MM (2006): Family discord, parental depression, and psychopathology in offspring: Twenty-year follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 45:452-460

Pilowsky DJ, Wu LT  (2006). Psychiatric symptoms and substance use disorders in a nationally representative sample of American adolescents involved with foster care. Journal of Adolescent Health 38:351-358

Das AK, Olfson M, Gameroff MJ, Pilowsky DJ; Blanco C, Feder A, Gross R, Neria Y, Lantigua R; Shea S; Weissman MM (2005): Screening for Bipolar Disorder in a Primary Care Practice. JAMA, 293:956-963