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John Warren Barnhill, M.D.

Psychiatry

Locations and Appointments

Insurances Accepted

Please contact the doctor's office to verify that your insurance is accepted.

Personal Statement

Dr. John W. Barnhill is DeWitt Wallace Senior Scholar, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, and Professor of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is also Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and an Attending Psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Dr. Barnhill serves as psychiatric liaison to the New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine (NYP/WCM) kidney transplant service and is chief of psychiatry at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

At NYP/WCM, Dr Barnhill has directed the inpatient psychiatric consultation team, served as departmental vice chair for consultation-liaison psychiatry, directed mental health services for all NYP/WCM house staff, and served as psychiatric liaison to the heart failure service. 

Dr. Barnhill's scholarly efforts have focused on the assessment and treatment of people who present with some combination of sadness, anxiety, stress, substance use, burnout, comorbid medical conditions, and relationship issues.

Dr. Barnhill's 7 books include: DSM-5-TR Clinical Cases (2023), which is the case-based guide to American psychiatry's primary diagnostic manual; Approach to the Psychiatric Patient, 2nd edition (2019), a text that includes over 100 authors who are faculty members at Weill Cornell Medicine or Columbia University; and Co-Occurring Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders: A Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment, edited with Dr. Jonathan Avery (2017). These books have been translated into a total of 12 languages. 

Dr. Barnhill has served on the editorial board for books published by the the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Barnhill writes the Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma section for the online Merck Manual.

Dr. Barnhill chairs the WCM psychiatry department's Appointments and Promotions Committee. Dr. Barnhill serves on the WCM medical student Promotions and Graduation Committee.  He has served on NYP/WCM's Ethics Committee for over 20 years and has chaired the WCM General Faculty Council (the representative body for all WCM faculty) and the Payne Whitney Faculty Council.

He has been a member of the department's Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) since its inception in 2019; he also serves on the DEI Council's subcommittee on Recruitment and Retention. 

Outside of NYP/WCM, Dr. Barnhill chairs the Ethics Committee for the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, where he is on the Executive Committee. He is a member of the Institutional Review Board at Rockefeller University.

Since 2015, Dr. Barnhill has directed the psychiatry section of the annual Salzburg-Weill Cornell Seminars through the Open Medical Institute.  He has served on the WCM Faculty Committee for the Weill Bugando Medical College in Mwanza, Tanzania and on the International Psychoanalytic Association's and the American Psychiatric Association's Committees to the United Nations and on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. 

Dr. Barnhill has lectured or consulted throughout the country, as well as the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Dr. Barnhill has maintained a private psychiatric practice throughout his career. 

Biographical Info

 

Honors and Awards

Dr. Barnhill graduated magna cum laude from Duke University and received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, where he won the Alumni Award for Service.

He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and an elected member of the American College of Psychiatrists.

Other Awards:

2018    Miriam G. Wallach Award for Excellence in Humanistic Medical Care, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine        

2016    Edith Sabshin Award for Teaching, American Psychoanalytic Association

2012    Nancy C.A. Roeske Certificate in Medical Student Education,  American Psychiatric Association                  

2009    Award for Excellence in Medical Student Teaching, Weill Cornell Medicine

2008     John F. O'Connor Award for Medical Student Teaching, Columbia Psychoanalytic Center 

2005     Award for Excellence in Medical Student Teaching, Weill Cornell Medicine

2003     Best Full Time Faculty Teacher, Psychiatry Residents, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine (Payne Whitney Clinic)                                                                                                 

 

Board Certifications
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Psychiatry)
American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Psychosomatic Medicine)
Clinical Expertise
Mood Disorder
Adult Psychotherapy
Anxiety Disorder
Provide Second Opinion
Psychiatric Aspects of Physical Illness
Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Burn-Out
Languages
English
Education 
  • M.D.
    Baylor College of Medicine
    1985
Appointments 
  • Attending Psychiatrist
    NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Professor of Medical Ethics in Clinical Medicine
    Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University
  • Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
    Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
  • DeWitt Wallace Senior Scholar
    Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University
  • Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
    Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University

Relationships and collaborations with for-profit and not-for profit organizations are of vital importance to our faculty because these exchanges of scientific information foster innovation. As experts in their fields, WCM physicians and scientists are sought after by many organizations to consult and educate. WCM and its faculty make this information available to the public, thus creating a transparent environment.

Proprietary Interest: 
American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.