Harold G. Koenig, MD; Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health; Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences; Associate Professor of Medicine

Dr. Koenig completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University, his medical school training at the University of California at San Francisco, and his geriatric medicine, psychiatry, and biostatistics training at Duke University Medical Center.  He is board certified in general psychiatry, and formerly board certified in geriatric psychiatry, geriatric medicine, and family medicine.  He serves on the faculty at Duke as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Associate Professor of Medicine, and is on the faculty at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a Distinguished Adjunct Professor.   

Dr. Koenig is founder and former director of Duke University’s Center for the Study of Religion, Spirituality and Health, and is now Director of Duke’s current Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health.  He has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with over 300 scientific peer-reviewed articles, 60 book chapters, and 40 books in print or in preparation.  He is the former editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, and is on the editorial boards of many professional journals.  His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on over 50 national and international TV news programs (including The Today Show, ABC’s World News Tonight, and several times on Good Morning America), over 100 national or international radio programs (including multiple NPR and BBC interviews), hundreds of national and international newspapers or magazines (including cover stories for Reader's Digest, Parade Magazine, and Newsweek), and is considered one of the world’s top experts on religion and health.  Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (September 1998) and the U.S. House of Representatives (September 2008) concerning the effects of religious involvement on public health, and has been interviewed by James Dobson on Focus on the Family and by Robert Schuller in the Crystal Cathedral on the Hour of Power.  Dr. Koenig has been nominated twice for the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.  He is the recipient of the 2012 Oskar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association.

His latest books include The Handbook of Religion and Health (Oxford University Press, 2001; 2012); his autobiography, The Healing Connection (2004); Faith and Mental Health (2005); In the Wake of Disaster (2007); Spirituality in Patient Care, 2nd edition (2007); Medicine, Religion and Health  (2008), Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry (2009, Cambridge University Press), and Spirituality and Health Research: Methods, Measurement, Statistics, and Resources (2011). Dr. Koenig travels widely to give workshops and seminar presentations in the United States and around the world.