Andrew Russell, M.D. is Professor Emeritus in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He has been a faculty member at the UCLA Semel Institute since 1977. He served as Co-Director of the Tarjan Center from 1999 to 2010. He has a long-standing interest in intellectual disabilities, which was nurtured during his training at UCLA by the late George Tarjan, M.D. Dr. Russell is the author of numerous scientific articles and chapters examining the co-occurrence of intellectual disability and mental illness. He is a strong advocate for increasing the quality and accessibility of mental health services for persons with disabilities.
Dr. Russell previously served as a psychiatric consultant to Lanterman Developmental Center and the Lanterman and Westside Regional Centers. Dr. Russell has been active in a variety of national roles in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has previously served as Chair of the Child Psychiatry Sub-Committee of the Psychiatry Review Committee of the ACGME and as a member of the Child and Adolescent Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatry, where he serves on the editorial board of the PRITE examination. Dr. Russell is a Life-Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and serves as co-chair of their lifelong learning program. In 2010 he was the recipient of the George Tarjan Award from the AACAP.
Dr. Russell continues to work part-time at UCLA, consulting with the Tarjan Center and the child psychiatry fellowship program. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Medical Institutional Review Board for neuroscience research at the UCLA School of Medicine.
