Ira Lesser, M.D.

Professor, PSYCHIATRY

Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences

Member, CTSI

Biography

Dr. Ira M. Lesser is Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Prior to becoming Chair at Harbor-UCLA, he was the Director of Residency Training at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for 18 years. Dr. Lesser has published over 120 peer-review articles and chapters in books, mostly in the fields of mood and anxiety disorders, depression in the geriatric age population, and the interface of depression and race/ethnicity. He is a member of the American College of Psychiatry, a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association, Chairs the Well-Being of Practitioners Committee at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, is on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, reviews manuscripts for major psychiatric journals, and has had over 30 years of continuous federal or industry support for his research.

Trivedi Madhukar H, Morris David W, Wisniewski Stephen R, Lesser Ira, Nierenberg Andrew A, Daly Ella, Kurian Benji T, Gaynes Bradley N, Balasubramani G K, Rush A John   Increase in work productivity of depressed individuals with improvement in depressive symptom severity The American journal of psychiatry, 2013; 170(6): 633-41.

Poland Russell E, Lesser Ira M, Wan Yu-Jui Yvonne, Gertsik Lev, Yao Jie, Raffel Leslie J, Lin Keh-Ming, Myers Hector F   Response to citalopram is not associated with SLC6A4 genotype in African-Americans and Caucasians with major depression Life sciences, 2013; 92(20-21): 967-70.

Zisook Sidney, Lesser Ira M, Lebowitz Barry, Rush A John, Kallenberg Gene, Wisniewski Stephen R, Nierenberg Andrew A, Fava Maurizio, Luther James F, Morris David W, Trivedi Madhukar H   Effect of antidepressant medication treatment on suicidal ideation and behavior in a randomized trial: an exploratory report from the Combining Medications to Enhance Depression Outcomes Study The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 2011; 72(10): 1322-32.

Lesser Ira M, Zisook Sidney, Gaynes Bradley N, Wisniewski Stephen R, Luther James F, Fava Maurizio, Khan Ahsan, McGrath Patrick, Warden Diane, Rush A John, Trivedi Madhukar   Effects of race and ethnicity on depression treatment outcomes: the CO-MED trial Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2011; 62(10): 1167-79.

Bobo William V, Chen Helen, Trivedi Madhukar H, Stewart Jonathan W, Nierenberg Andrew A, Fava Maurizio, Kurian Benji T, Warden Diane, Morris David W, Luther James F, Husain Mustafa M, Cook Ian A, Lesser Ira M, Kornstein Susan G, Wisniewski Stephen R, Rush A John, Shelton Richard C   Randomized comparison of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (escitalopram) monotherapy and antidepressant combination pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder with melancholic features: a CO-MED report Journal of affective disorders, 2011; 133(3): 467-76.

Joseph Nataria T, Myers Hector F, Schettino Jonathan R, Olmos Natasha T, Bingham-Mira Consuelo, Lesser Ira M, Poland Russell E   Support and undermining in interpersonal relationships are associated with symptom improvement in a trial of antidepressant medication Psychiatry, 2011; 74(3): 240-54.

Rush A John, Trivedi Madhukar H, Stewart Jonathan W, Nierenberg Andrew A, Fava Maurizio, Kurian Benji T, Warden Diane, Morris David W, Luther James F, Husain Mustafa M, Cook Ian A, Shelton Richard C, Lesser Ira M, Kornstein Susan G, Wisniewski Stephen R   Combining medications to enhance depression outcomes (CO-MED): acute and long-term outcomes of a single-blind randomized study The American journal of psychiatry, 2011; 168(7): 689-701.

Schettino Jonathan R, Olmos Natasha T, Myers Hector F, Joseph Nataria T, Poland Russell E, Lesser Ira M   Religiosity and treatment response to antidepressant medication: A prospective multi-site clinical trial Mental health, religion & culture, 2011; 14(8): 805-818.

Gara Michael A, Vega William A, Lesser Ira, Escamilla Michael, Lawson William B, Wilson Daniel R, Fleck David E, Strakowski Stephen M   The role of complex emotions in inconsistent diagnoses of schizophrenia The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 2010; 198(9): 609-13.

Stewart Jonathan W, McGrath Patrick J, Fava Maurizio, Wisniewski Stephen R, Zisook Sidney, Cook Ian, Nierenberg Andrew A, Trivedi Madhukar H, Balasubramani G K, Warden Diane, Lesser Ira, John Rush A   Do atypical features affect outcome in depressed outpatients treated with citalopram? The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology / official scientific journal of the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP), 2010; 13(1): 15-30.

Lesser Ira M, Myers Hector F, Lin Keh-Ming, Bingham Mira Consuelo, Joseph Nataria T, Olmos Natasha T, Schettino Jonathan, Poland Russell E   Ethnic differences in antidepressant response: a prospective multi-site clinical trial Depression and anxiety, 2010; 27(1): 56-62.

Díaz Esperanza, Miskemen Theresa, Vega William A, Gara Michael, Wilson Daniel R, Lesser Ira, Escamilla Michael, Neighbors Harold W, Arndt Stephan, Strakowski Stephen   Inconsistencies in diagnosis and symptoms among bilingual and English-speaking Latinos and Euro-Americans Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2009; 60(10): 1379-82.

Warden Diane, Trivedi Madhukar H, Wisniewski Stephen R, Lesser Ira M, Mitchell Jeff, Balasubramani G K, Fava Maurizio, Shores-Wilson Kathy, Stegman Diane, Rush A John   Identifying risk for attrition during treatment for depression Psychotherapy and psychosomatics, 2009; 78(6): 372-9.

Warden Diane, Rush A John, Wisniewski Stephen R, Lesser Ira M, Thase Michael E, Balasubramani G K, Shores-Wilson Kathy, Nierenberg Andrew A, Trivedi Madhukar H   Income and attrition in the treatment of depression: a STAR*D report Depression and anxiety, 2009; 26(7): 622-33.

Warden Diane, Rush A John, Wisniewski Stephen R, Lesser Ira M, Kornstein Susan G, Balasubramani G K, Thase Michael E, Preskorn Sheldon H, Nierenberg Andrew A, Young Elizabeth A, Shores-Wilson Kathy, Trivedi Madhukar H   What predicts attrition in second step medication treatments for depression?: a STAR*D Report The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology / official scientific journal of the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP), 2009; 12(4): 459-73.

Lesser Ira, Rosales Aurora, Zisook Sidney, Gonzalez Carlos, Flores Deborah, Trivedi Madhukar, Sciolla Andres, Luther James, Wisniewski Stephen, Alpert Jonathan, Cook Ian, Rush A John, Epstein Marcy   Depression outcomes of Spanish- and english-speaking Hispanic outpatients in STAR*D Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2008; 59(11): 1273-84.

Leuchter Andrew F, Lesser Ira M, Trivedi Madhukar H, Rush A John, Morris David W, Warden Diane, Fava Maurizio, Wisniewski Stephen R, Luther James F, Perales Mercedes, Gaynes Bradley N, Stewart Jonathan W   An open pilot study of the combination of escitalopram and bupropion-SR for outpatients with major depressive disorder Journal of psychiatric practice, 2008; 14(5): 271-80.

Lesser Ira M, Castro Daniel B, Gaynes Bradley N, Gonzalez Jodi, Rush A John, Alpert Jonathan E, Trivedi Madhukar, Luther James F, Wisniewski Stephen R   Ethnicity/race and outcome in the treatment of depression: results from STAR*D Medical care, 2007; 45(11): 1043-51.

Zisook Sidney, Lesser Ira, Stewart Jonathan W, Wisniewski Stephen R, Balasubramani G K, Fava Maurizio, Gilmer William S, Dresselhaus Timothy R, Thase Michael E, Nierenberg Andrew A, Trivedi Madhukar H, Rush A John   Effect of age at onset on the course of major depressive disorder The American journal of psychiatry, 2007; 164(10): 1539-46.

Lesser Ira M, Leuchter Andrew F, Trivedi Madhukar H, Davis Lori L, Wisniewski Stephen R, Balasubramani G K, Fava Maurizio, Rush A John   Insured and non-insured depressed outpatients: how do they compare? Annals of clinical psychiatry : official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, 2007; 19(2): 73-82.

Stone David C, Boone Kyle B, Back-Madruga Carla, Lesser Ira M   Has the rolling uterus finally gathered moss? Somatization and malingering of cognitive deficit in six cases of "toxic mold" exposure The Clinical neuropsychologist, 2006; 20(4): 766-85.

Lesser Ira M, Leuchter Andrew F, Trivedi Madhukar H, Davis Lori L, Wisniewski Stephen R, Balasubramani G K, Petersen Timothy, Stegman Diane, Rush A John   Characteristics of insured and noninsured outpatients with depression in STAR(*)D Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 2005; 56(8): 995-1004.

Razani Jill, Boone Kyle, Lesser Ira, Weiss Dorothy   Effects of cigarette smoking history on cognitive functioning in healthy older adults The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2005; 12(4): 404-11.

Feil Denise, Razani Jill, Boone Kyle, Lesser Ira   Apathy and cognitive performance in older adults with depression International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 2003; 18(6): 479-85.

Myers Hector F, Lesser Ira, Rodriguez Norma, Mira Consuelo Bingham, Hwang Wei-Chin, Camp Christina, Anderson Dora, Erickson Lucy, Wohl Marcy   Ethnic differences in clinical presentation of depression in adult women Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 2002; 8(2): 138-56.