Octavio Choi, MD, PhD - Forensic Psychiatric Associates

Octavio Choi, MD, PhD is a board-certified forensic psychiatrist and Clinical Associate Professor in the Psychiatry Department at Stanford University School of Medicine. As a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Choi specializes in neurolaw, an emerging interdisciplinary field that studies the use and misuse of neuroscience-based evidence in the courtroom. As Training Director in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law, he is establishing the first forensic psychiatry fellowship program (and the first neurolaw-focused program) at the Stanford School of Medicine.

Services

Dr. Choi has testified as a court-appointed expert, as well as for the prosecution and defense, in many high-profile and complex cases involving psychiatric, neurologic, medical, and medication-related legal claims.

Areas of Expertise

Additional Expertise:

Forensic Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Child Trauma, Child Custody Evaluation.

Profile

Dr. Choi is a forensic psychiatrist and clinical associate professor of psychiatry. He holds an MD in psychiatry and a PhD in neuroscience. He is the founding director of Stanford's Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program, the first neurolaw-focused forensic fellowship in the world, and Director of Training in Stanford's Program in Psychiatry and the Law. Dr. Choi is an active educator, providing seminars to students, attorneys, judges, neuroscientists and clinicians on the importance and relevance of neuroscience and the law.

As a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Choi specializes in neurolaw, an emerging interdisciplinary field that studies the use and misuse of neuroscience-based evidence in the courtroom. His research interests include the use of functional brain imaging to discern mental states (e.g. lie detection, pain assessment), and the neural basis for moral decision making (e.g. defects in moral reasoning brain centers giving rise to psychopathy). A central question he considers is: how do advances in our knowledge of the neural basis of behavior change perceptions of how offenders should be punished? He has testified as a court-appointed expert, as well as for the prosecution and defense, in many high-profile and complex cases involving psychiatric, neurologic, medical, and medication-related legal claims.

Dr. Choi's clinical interests include neuromodulatory approaches to treat psychiatric illness, such as the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to treat major depression. He is part of the interventional psychiatry group of Stanford Medicine, conducting clinical work and research to advance the power, precision, and scope of neuromodulation.

Dr. Choi is an experienced public speaker, and has given a number of talks to lay and professional audiences on neurolaw, the neuroscience of psychopathy, and the neuroscience of moral decision-making. He is a featured TEDx speaker on the topic "Can Neuroscience Eradicate Psychopathy?"

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Professional Experience

Clinical Associate Professor, Stanford University, August 2019 – Present
Director of Training, Program in Psychiatry and the Law, Stanford University

Director, Forensic Evaluation Services, Oregon State Hospital, March 2016 – July 2019
The Forensic Evaluation Service of the Oregon State Hospital conducts most court ordered forensic evaluations in the state of Oregon, with over 1,400 evaluations completed in 2018

Affiliate faculty, Division of Public Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, June 2017 – present

Assistant Professor, Division of Public Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Science University, June 2013 – June 2017

Chief Academic Psychiatrist, Oregon State Hospital, July 2014- March 2016

Supervising Psychiatrist, Oregon State Hospital, July 2014- Dec 2014

Clinical Psychiatrist at Oregon State Hospital, June 2013 – July 2014

Clinical Psychiatrist at Oregon State Hospital-Portland, Sep 2012 – March 2013

Outpatient Psychiatrist, September 2010 - June 2011
Cascadia Behavioral Health and Luke-Dorf Behavioral Health, Portland OR

Consultant Psychiatrist, Feb 2010 - Aug 2010
Capitol and Coast District Health Board, Wellington, New Zealand

Outpatient Psychiatrist, May 2009 - Feb 2010
Contra Costa County Mental Health Clinic, Concord CA

Outpatient Psychiatrist, October 2008 - May 2009
Pathways to Wellness Mental Health Clinic, Oakland CA

Outpatient Psychiatrist, October 2008 - Feb 2010
Private practice, Berkeley CA

Licenses

Oregon: MD150233, Active, exp 12/31/17

Affiliations

American Psychiatric Association (APA), fellow.
Oregon Psychiatric Physicians Association (OPPA)
American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL)

Qualifications

General Psychiatry Board Certification #60500, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Jan 2010

Forensic Psychiatry Board Certification #1979, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Oct 2013

Awards & Honors

Recipient of 2020 Innovator Grant, Stanford University Dept of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Winner of competitive grant, which will fund research into causes of mass shootings, culminating in a national conference titled “Insight into the unthinkable: towards an integrated understanding of mass shooters and mass shootings.”
Mind and Life summer research institute scholar, Mind and Life Institute, 2006
Special recognition for USMLE step I score in 99th percentile
Received Honors letter for Pathology, Neurology, and Laboratory medicine courses
Received perfect score on MCAT exam, 1992
Nominated for the Dean's Award for Academic Achievement, Stanford, 1990

Education

Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Forensic Psychiatry, Neurolaw (2012)
Psychiatry residency, UCLA-Neuropsychiatric Institute, Psychiatry (2008)
PhD, University of California, San Diego, Neuroscience (2004)
MD, University of California, San Diego (2004)
BS, Stanford University, Symbolic Systems (Computational Neuroscience) (1992)