About Felix Torres, MD, MBA, FACHE, DFAPA, CCHP-MH

Felix Torres, MD, MBA, FACHE, DFAPA, CCHP-MH, is a clinical, forensic, and administrative psychiatrist. He is an executive leader with over 15 years of experience across state and federal governments, academic medicine, correctional health, and community psychiatry.

Dr. Torres has demonstrated expertise in forensic services, substance abuse treatment, mental health policy, and large-scale system transformation. He also has proven success directing cross-sector behavioral health initiatives, mentoring faculty and clinicians, and implementing evidence-based, equity-focused programs, as most recently accomplished during his tenure as the Chief of Forensic Medicine for Texas Health and Human Services.

Double boarded in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry by The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Dr. Torres is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He sat on the APA Board of Trustees as the Minority/Underrepresented Representative and was the Co-Chair of the APA Board of Trustees Structural Racism Accountability Committee from 2021 to 2023. Dr. Torres has also served as a Special Advisor on the United Nations, ensuring the inclusion of mental health in UN development goals and agendas. He currently represents the Southern Psychiatric Association on the APA Assembly. Dr. Torres is the former Vice Chair of Acute Care Services and the former Director of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Services for the Department of Psychiatry at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. He is the Corresponding Secretary for the NGO Committee on Mental Health, in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Dr. Torres received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Behavioral Neurosciences, from Yale University. He graduated magna cum laude from Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. Dr. Torres completed his general psychiatry residency and forensic psychiatry fellowship at Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers in New York City. He has been certified as a provider of Electroconvulsive Therapy by Northwell Health's Zucker-Hillside Hospital. Dr. Torres also holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School with a double concentration in Healthcare Management and Leading Organizations. He has been inducted to the Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr. Torres is licensed in the States of Texas, New York, Florida, and California. He has served as Inpatient Unit Director at Maimonides Medical Center, Psychiatric Clinical Coordinator at NYU Langone – Brooklyn, Acute Care Psychiatry Chief and Supervisory Psychiatrist at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, consulting psychiatrist for mental health clinics in the New York City area, and forensic psychiatry consultant to the Office of Court Administration of the New York State Unified Court System.

Dr. Torres is a member of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Association for Community Psychiatry, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry, the Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists (AGLP), the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, the Florida Medical Association, the NGO Committee on Mental Health at the United Nations, the Southern Psychiatric Association, the Texas Academy of Psychiatry, and the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians.

Dr. Torres served as Assembly Representative from the New York County Psychiatric Society to the APA from 2012 to 2019, where he focused on issues relating to global and cultural psychiatry, addressing the delivery of psychiatric care to underserved populations, highlighting the impact of global climate change on mental health, fighting the stigma surrounding mental illness, and supporting the fourth strategic initiative of the APA: Diversity. He served as Secretary of the New York State Psychiatric Association from 2018 to 2019 until his move from New York to Texas.

Dr. Torres contributed the chapter “Help-Seeking Behavior and Access to Mental Health Care” to the book “The American Latino: Psychodynamic Perspectives on Culture and Mental Health Issues.”

Recognized as a psychiatric expert by several courts throughout the United States, Dr. Torres has consulted and testified in hundreds of cases on mental health issues.

Committed to the fight against the stigma towards mental illness and to the education of underserved populations, Dr. Torres has extensive media experience, serving as a mental health contributor to local, national, and international media outlets. From 2021 to 2023, Dr. Torres hosted the YouTube/Facebook Live show, “Sin Salud Mental No Hay Salud” (No Health Without Mental Health).

Dr. Torres is the founder and president of New York Forensic Psychiatry Consulting, P.C.

Dr. Torres speaks English, Spanish, French, and Italian.