Petros Levounis, MD, serves as professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and associate dean at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. He is also the chief of service at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, director of the Northern New Jersey Medications for Addiction Treatment Center of Excellence, and immediate past president of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Levounis came to Rutgers from Columbia University where he served as director of the Addiction Institute of New York from 2002 to 2013.

Dr. Levounis is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University where he studied sociology, chemistry, and biophysics, and received his medical education at Stanford and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Columbia, earning the National Institute of Mental Health Outstanding Resident Award, and his fellowship in addiction psychiatry at NYU. He is a Betty Ford Scholar, a recipient of a US State Department Speaker and Specialist Award, and an honorary member of the World Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Levounis has published 14 books including the textbook of “Substance Dependence and Co-Occurring Psychiatric Disorders,” the self-help paperback “Sober Siblings: How to Help Your Alcoholic Brother or Sister—and Not Lose Yourself,” and the first book on the “Technological Addictions.” His book on "Nature Therapy" is expected to be out in the fall of 2024. His books have been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Dr. Levounis is married to actor Lukas Hassel and lives in New York City.