David C. Henderson, MD

David C. Henderson, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center (BMC), where he serves as Chief of Psychiatry, and Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. He also serves as Co-Director of the NIMH T32 Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine/Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Global Mental Health Clinical Research Fellowship.

Dr. Henderson is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. He completed his psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and trained as Chief Resident and Research Fellow at the Freedom Trail Clinic at the Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center in Boston. Before joining BMC, he directed the Chester M. Pierce, MD, Division of Global Psychiatry and the Schizophrenia Clinical and Research Program and served as a staff psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), as well as serving as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Medical Director of the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. He was also principal investigator and director of the MGH Global Mental Health Clinical Research Fellowship.

Dr. Henderson has worked in resource-limited or conflict-affected areas for over two decades, including in New York City following the September 11 attacks and in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. He also has served during and following disasters, complex emergencies, or conflicts in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Ethiopia, Ghana, Haiti (post-earthquake), India, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Liberia, Peru, Rwanda, Somaliland, South Africa, and Uganda. He has conducted numerous studies of trauma in areas of mass violence and develops programs to assist with vulnerable populations. Additionally, he works with governments and organizations to provide technical assistance regarding mental health policy and planning.

Dr. Henderson’s research interests include treatment-resistant schizophrenia and the use of psychopharmacological and antipsychotic agents in the treatment of schizophrenia. He is a leader in understanding the impact of antipsychotic agents on weight, cardiovascular disease, and lipid and glucose metabolism and the development of interventions and prevention strategies. In the United States, he has conducted more than 30 randomized clinical trials among severely mentally ill populations.

Dr. Henderson has also directed a schizophrenia research training fellowship and mentored trainees and junior faculty who have progressed to K awards and secured other independent funding. He actively mentors psychiatry residents and postdoctoral fellows on data-driven international research projects. His work in the field of medical education and quality improvement has included field studies, needs assessments, mental health policy development and strategic planning, quantitative and qualitative surveys, mental health capacity building programs for specialized and primary health professionals, and skill-transfer program evaluation.

Dr. Henderson is a member of the National Medical Association; New England Medical Society; Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society of Harvard–Radcliffe; and the Black Psychiatrists of America Executive Committee, and has served as a Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association since 2006. He is the U.S. editor of the International Journal of Culture and Mental Health.