Harold G. Koenig

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, geriatric psychiatry and geriatric medicine, and is 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. He is also a registered nurse. Dr. Koenig is Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center, and has published extensively in the fields of mental health, geriatrics, and religion, with over 350 scientific peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and nearly 40 books in print or in preparation. He is considered by biomedical scientists as one of the world’s top experts on religion and health (http://www.biomedexperts.com/Concept.bme/18754/Religion). His research on religion, health and ethical issues in medicine has been featured on dozens of national and international TV news programs (including ABC’s World News Tonight, The Today Show and two episodes of Good Morning America), nearly a hundred national or international radio programs, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines (including Reader's Digest, Parade Magazine, Newsweek, Time, and Guidepost). Dr. Koenig has given testimony before the U.S. Senate (1998) and U.S. House of Representatives (2008) concerning the benefits of religion and spirituality on public health, and travels widely to give seminars and workshops on the topic. His latest books are (1) Faith and Mental Health (2005), (2) In the Wake of Disaster (2006), (3) Spirituality in Patient Care (2007), Medicine, Religion and Health (2008), Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry (2009), Handbook of Religion and Health, Second Edition (Jan/Feb 2012, Oxford University Press), and Spirituality and Health Research: Methodology, Measurement, Analyses, and Resources (2011).