Dr Theresa Miskimen Rivera
President, American Psychiatric Association / Clinical Professor, Rutgers RWJ Medical School, Department of Psychiatry
Theresa Miskimen Rivera, MD, DLFAPA, is the President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association; a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); a member of the American College of Psychiatrists, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She served most recently as Medical Quality and Clinical Effectiveness Officer for Behavioral Health of the Department of Psychiatry at Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, New Jersey.
Dr Miskimen centered her public sector clinical practice on improving access and delivery of psychiatric care to bilingual and bicultural communities, developing and implementing intercultural clinical programs, and, most recently, serving as a consulting psychiatrist for a collaborative care practice in New Jersey. Her clinical work has informed research endeavors, resulting in numerous articles and lectures concerning diagnostic challenges and symptom phenomenology when treating racial and ethnically diverse populations, ethical issues affecting psychopharmacological research among ethnic populations, and cultural aspects of patient symptomatology.
For over 30 years, Dr Miskimen has applied her passion and expertise to critical roles, including psychiatric clinical care, patient advocacy, community outreach, academic endeavors, and organizational leadership.