Robert Daroff

Robert Daroff, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine, where he has been on faculty since 1994. His clinical work is primarily based at the San Francisco VA Hospital, where he serves as a generalist outpatient psychiatrist caring for Veterans with diverse clinical concerns. He regularly collaborates with UCSF psychiatry residents and medical students in his clinical teaching role.

Dr. Daroff's research interests span a remarkably broad spectrum of psychiatric and neurological domains. His current work focuses on innovative therapeutic approaches including psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy research, nature-assisted therapy, and expressive arts therapies. He has particular expertise in LGBTQ mental health, military psychiatry, HIV psychiatry, and the mental health effects of speciesism, racism, heterosexism, and colonialism. His work also encompasses mind-body medicine, meditation in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and nutrition's relationship to mental health. Early in his career, Dr. Daroff made significant contributions to neuro-ophthalmology and eye movement research.

Dr. Daroff's publication history reveals two distinct but complementary phases of scholarly work. His early career (1960s-1980s) was characterized by extensive research on eye movement disorders, nystagmus, and neurological conditions affecting vision, with numerous publications in ophthalmology and neurology journals. More recently (2013-2020), his work has shifted toward innovative psychiatric therapies, particularly his groundbreaking 2020 study on psilocybin-assisted group therapy for demoralized older long-term AIDS survivor men and his 2013 work on clinical teaching models in psychiatry settings. This evolution demonstrates his ability to bridge neurological and psychiatric understanding in service of innovative therapeutic approaches.

Dr. Daroff is actively involved in medical education, having published on research-based models for clinical teaching in psychiatry settings. He works closely with psychiatry residents and medical students at UCSF, contributing to the training of the next generation of mental health professionals. His clinical work at the San Francisco VA Hospital demonstrates his commitment to serving Veteran populations while advancing psychiatric care through both traditional and innovative therapeutic modalities.